


In My Dreams

by Lynx8996



Category: Impractical Jokers, youtuber
Genre: F/M, more to come - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-05-17 19:01:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14837375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lynx8996/pseuds/Lynx8996
Summary: In My Dreams is a growing collection of chapter based stories. They are based from requests as well as my own random ideas. A new chapter will be posted as soon as new additions are complete. Typically each chapter is independent in it's own right, though characters portrayed may remain the same based off requestors. Hope y'all enjoy and if you want to request something please make sure to follow the Request Chapter!! Thank you!





	1. Request

HELLO! My name is Lynx, and I am going to start taking re quests for short stories. If you want one done, please let me know in the following format! I will try to do these using YouTubers, Video Game Characters, and Book Characters. 

Who Requested: (Your Name here)

The Name of your Persona: (Your Characters Name)

Who is it with? : (Your romantic choice)

Setting: (I need something to go off of, where is it? What would you like to happen?) 

Extra: If you have any specifics please let me know here. This includes, how you act, what your and/or they look like. 

 

Finally- At this time I don't think I will be doing smut. I might change this later on, if you REALLY want a smut done- message me. If I can't do it I will contact you for further options.


	2. Sticky Smell Good (J-Fred)

"Any idea when you'll need picked up?" I glanced over at my brunette best friend. She had agreed to drive me to the laundry mat, even though it was going on 12:30 in the morning. Lately both of us had been pulling extra shifts at Maybelle's Tea shop in order to pay off our new office set. Unfortunately, extra shifts meant less time in the office and more time trying to catch up on cleaning. 

"Only two loads, and the dryers here are kick ass so I think your break should be good." I tried to calculate the time on my hands. Since it was later at night May would be more understanding of Adrian leaving work for a few minutes. 

"You got it lass." Adrian pulled up in front of the laundry mat and pulled into one of the fading parking spaces. I watched as she twisted her keys out of the ignition and popped the truck. She unlocked the doors and stepped out into the warm night air. I followed her out and around to the back of the car. 

"Are you helping me carry them in?" I questioned slipping my hands in and under the rim of a new plastic basket. 

"Of course I am! Half of it's my stanky clothes!" Adrian shot my a bemused look before pulling one of the basket from the trunk and balancing it on her hip so she could grab the plastic bag with our laundry soap, and dryer sheets in it. 

"Show off..." I mumbled under my breath. 

I scooped the basket out of the trunk and clung it to my chest as hard as I could, otherwise my arms would get super sore and our clothes would end up on the ground. Adrian slammed the trunk shut and led the way to the door, she jerked it open and stood with her back against it, allowing me to slip into the building in front of her. 

"Thanks Addy." I called over my shoulder as I stepped into the well lit room. She grunted in response and eased the door shut behind me. I shuffled over to my favorite row of washers and set the basket into one of the cheap plastic chairs they had screwed to the floor. She followed me in and set the second basket down beside the first. She stood straight and I heard her back emit several popping noises, though it was better than usual. Normally her spine sounded like a bowl of Rice Crispies. Ew. 

"I'll see you around one thirty?" Addy questioned turning to face me. I resisted smiling. She was never someone I would call a girly girl, but she could certainly pull it off in her work uniform. Between the black dress pants, the cleavage her button up shirt showed and the delicate matching silver bracelet and necklace. I smiled wryly. 

"Yep, yep, yep." I threw my arms around her neck and hugged her tightly. She snaked her arms around my back and hugged back before stepping away and rolling her eyes. 

"Behave." She commanded before heading outside. My eyes followed her until she was in the car, and even then I didn't get to work until her tail light were out of my sight. First thing was first. I whipped out my cell phone and punched in my unlock code before opening YouTube. I needed music, else I'd go insane from the silence. I skimmed through my saved playlists before selecting one filled with techno music. I couldn't help but sway my hips around to the upbeat music. 

I killed the first two songs separating our colors, lights and darks and tossing them into washers. We didn't always separate them by colors, but there was enough to do so and I'd have extra time to spare if she wouldn't be back until one thirty. For a dramatic flare I spun in a circle while I poured the laundry soap. Not a drop hit the ground. I smiled and poured it into the first machine before filling a second cup. I splashed it down into the machines bowls as well before starting on the final cup. Idly I wiggled my hips again, my body moving on it's own accord to my music. 

"Hello?" A voice called out. 

A males voice. 

I jumped. 

......

I whimpered softly. Laundry soap was winding it's way down my collar bone and into my cleavage, the front of my shirt was damp and several splatters had hit the floor when I'd jumped. Suddenly my techno music didn't sound as fun and upbeat. 

"Excuse me Miss, are you okay?" The voice asked after a minute of me not moving at all. I kept my eyes locked on the ground and slowly turned to face him. All I could make out was the tips of his shoes. They were grey and white, they looked like some kind of skater shoe. I kinda wanted to stomp on it. 

"Oh! Oh no... I'm sorry!! Hold on!" The tips of his shoes disappeared and his shoes squeaked along the tiled floor. I sniffled and resisted the urge to burst into tears. A moment later his shoes were back in my sight, but what shocked me was his hand lifting my chin up. I squeezed my eyes shut and froze in place. 

"I oh... um... miss?" He questioned tapping my shoulder. 

"What?" I whispered, the goop continued oozing down my front. It has almost halfway down my stomach. 

"Here?" I peeked through my eye lashes at him and found his hands half way to my face, both stuffed with handfuls of paper towels from the restroom. I grabbed them and darted around him and into the bathroom. I slammed the door shut and twisted the lock before stripping my shirt over my head and tossing it into the sink. I sniffled and began furiously wiping the cup of soap off of my breasts. After several minutes I had rinsed the soap out of my shirt the best I could and pulled it back on, despite the fact that there was now a giant wet spot consuming my entire front. My face was 50 shades of red as I opened the door. I almost didn't notice the grey object hanging off of the handle. I paused and stared at it. 

I lifted my gaze and scanned the room. The boy was sitting on top of a washer that was running, his eyes locked on his phone screen. I blinked for a moment, before taking in the fact that he was sitting there... without a shirt on. My gaze shifted to the grey object hanging on the door knob again. 

"Um... why is y-your shirt over h-here?" I called out. He looked up for a moment before twisting his torso to look at me. I think I preferred the view of his back more, at least then I could breathe. Normally backwards hats didn't do anything for me, but his was perched on top of his head, and the goofy smile that decorated his lips made me consider him being a nice guy. He turned more and I felt my cheeks heat up more, nipple one in view. 

"I figured if you wanted or needed a dry one you could use mine." He continued to grin across the room at me. I blinked and slowly looked down at his shirt. Without looking up at him again I picked up the shirt and backed into the bathroom again, pulling the door shut with me as I went. Before the door was fully clicked shut I was already jerking my shirt over my head. I didn't like the damp spot it had been forming on my chest. I jerked his over my head and felt my face flush. 

A: It was still warm. 

B: He smelled like men's deodorant and shampoo, with a faint hint of dog. 

I scooped up my t-shirt and headed out into the main room again, this time he was already looking my way. I held up my hand in greeting and shuffled toward him. I didn't have a choice, he was sitting on a washer beside the ones I had loaded myself. 

"I didn't mean to scare you earlier." He smiled down at me and swung his legs lightly back and forth. 

"S'okay. I just wasn't expecting anyone else to be here this late, normally it's empty." I replied staring down at my hands. I tossed my shirt in one of the washers and dumped part of a cup of soap into the machine before closing it and starting all three in a row. 

"I get that. I needed to do a load, but my washer won't be in a working condition till tomorrow." He smiled again. Up this close I could see the light yellow tint that accompanied most peoples teeth, not to mention his canines. I looked away from him to my phone where it was still shouting techno music from it's tiny speaker. I snatched it and switched it off before sitting in one of the plastic seats across from the washers. 

"I'm Joey by the way." He chirped happily. I glanced up and him and back down, I didn't wanna talk to him. I wasn't sure I could even. My eyes landed on the solid grey shirt that was covering my chest. I heard him slide off of the washer and land on the floor.

"Simone..." I replied. Joey reach out his hand, the smile never leaving his face. I slapped my hand into his and swear my heart attempted to beat out of my chest. His fingers were long and bony, and they almost completely curled around my wrist. But all around it was pleasant, it was also the closest I'd ever came to holding a guys hand. Most of my teenage and adult life I'd preferred girls, not completely for em, but I sure as hell preferred them. Joey pulled his hand away and crossed his arms over his chest before dropping into a plastic chair beside me. 

"So what brings you here this late?" He asked. My bright blue eyes flicked up and met equally blue ones. 

"My friend and I live in an apartment, but there aren't any laundry units there." I pouted. It was one of the things we'd hoped to have in an apartment complex, but it just hadn't happened. 

"Ohhhh, why so late?" He asked. I frowned. 

"Extra work lately, so we haven't had time in the day to get out and do it. Like I've only been off twenty minutes, long enough to get home, get the clothes and get here." I nodded determinedly. Tomorrow was mine and Adrian's day off, but we'd both opted to rest instead. Ya know do break day things. Play some games, play cards, bake cookies watch some anime... well in my case at least. Adrian would probably hoard up with a bottle of water, some chips and kill the next book in the series she was reading. I rolled my eyes. I'd seen her go through a four hundred page book in one day, she was serious about her reading. 

"Wait... did you eat?" He asked. Quizzically I looked up at him. 

"I had lunch?" I offered, granted lunch had been earlier. Like waaaaaaaayyyy earlier. On cue my stomach let out an audible growl. Joey's face broken into a grin and a lighthearted laugh escaped from his mouth. 

"There's a fast food place open down the road, I could run and pick up something if you wanted?" He jerked his thumb toward the window. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. 

"Really?" I hoped I didn't look to hopeful but based on the look he gave me it was obvious. 

"What do you want?" He asked. I shrugged slowly. I didn't know anything good enough to request something. 

"Ohh-kay. Do you like onions? Pickles? Olives? Bacon? Cheese?" He rattled off a short list. 

"Ooooohhh dill pickles, and black olives!" I couldn't resist smiling. Joey grinned back at me before standing up and picking up a hoodie I hadn't noticed before. He slipped his arms into the jacket and zipped it up to his collar bone. 

"Be back in a little bit." He grinned at me and darted out the door. I watched him curiously as he climbed inside his car and pulled away. My heart was pounding as I turned back around and dialed Adrian's number into the receiver slot.

// Joey is going to get me food.// I typed out into the phone. I hit send. I didn't expect her to reply so soon. 

// Who is Joey?// Adrian replied. 

// This guy that's at the laundry mat with me...//

// . . . // I wrinkled my nose at her reply. Was she mad? Was she going to kick my ass when she came to pick me up? I shuddered at the thought. 

// I want a last name and a picture.// The message popped into my inbox and I smiled. Of course she would want that much. So if I went missing she could hunt him down and.... I shuddered again. Adrian; my scary ass mother-like, best friend. 

// I'll send one when he gets back.// I sent her back. 

// Mmk. Gtg May's here.// Adrian sent back. I gazed at her message before locking eyes onto her profile picture. It was one of me, her and her little brother and sister at the zoo from a few years ago. I wasn't aware of how long I'd been staring until the washer buzzer's sounded off. One right after the other. I jumped at the noise and stared at the machine. 

"Stupid thing." I mumbled standing up. I wandered to the corner of the room where a basket on wheels was leaning up against a wall. I grabbed it and wheeled it back in front of the washers before eyeing them. Four of them were full, three of them were mine. I glanced out the window. There were no signs of headlights. Nervously I opened the first washer and began pulling out the clothes. Joeys jeans, shirts, and boxers all slapped into the bottom of the basket. I wrinkled my nose and opted to just pretend I was doing my sisters laundry. I made my way between the dryers and washers twice, on my final walk headlights streamed in through the window. I glanced out it, almost tempted to hide behind the washers. I watched as they flicked off and Joey popped out of the drivers seat, a white bag clutched in his hand. Nervously I turned away from the door and shoved a few coins into the dryer before hitting the on button. 

"Sorry that took so long! Longer line than I expected this late!" He chuckled and headed right around toward me. 

"S'all good... hey um... would you mind if I took a picture of you...? To send to my friend?" I blurted out. Joey's eyes widened in surprise. 

"Sure?" I gazed at him for a moment before pulling out my phone and snapping a shot of him. He smiled brightly, and mock posed, holding the bag of food with the label side out. I hit send in Adrian's chat box. 

Meanwhile Joey pulled out several napkins and laid them out on top of a closed washer. I glanced up at him through my eyelashes and watching him curiously. He pulled out two similar white packages followed by two large boxes. I stepped closer and sniffed the air. 

"I wasn't sure if you wanted rings, or fries so I got a box of both." He explained popping the tabs on both boxes. The alluring scent of fresh fries, and crispy onion rings filled my nose. Drool on the other hand filled my mouth. 

"Can I have some of both? Please?" I asked nervously, I didn't want him to think I was being greedy but they both looked good, and I mean REALLY good. He just chuckled and pulled out several little containers filled with ketchup and ranch. There was also another one that appeared to be filled with BBQ sauce. He popped the lids off of all of them and set them in the lids for the rings and fries. Carefully he examined one of the white packages before setting it over, closer to me. 

"-ate -ight -inner is -erved!" He declared. I attempted to resist smiling, instead I looked up and found him with several fries hanging from his lips. My lips twisted upwards and several giggles escaped my belly. 

"Thank you Prince Charming!" Joey's eyes widened at my remark. 

"That's a new one." He chuckled, swallowing his fries. He unwrapped his white pack, and I found myself gazing at the best looking burger ever. 

"Holy crap... how much do I owe you?" I asked turning to unwrap my own pack. Sure enough it was a burger as well. White gooey cheesy was melting all over a fat patty, and pickles seemed to have been piled onto it along with dark olive slices. I had to swallow a mouth full of saliva before I could even take a bite. I stood there chewing in a wonderful bliss, only partially aware that Joey was beside me munching away too. We continued chewing in silence, the food was that good! 

"-ow long -have you been out -ere for?" He questioned, stuffing a few onion rings topped with ketchup into his mouth. I swallowed a mouthful and dabbed at my face with a napkin. 

"About four months. We came out here with some savings, and Adrian wanted to go to school out here. So... here we are!" I threw my arms out wide before tucking them back against my side. "I don't mind, but I mean it was a big change. We've been so busy we haven't made it back out toward our parents yet... I mean it's nice out here but... I miss my mom..." I sighed and leaned my hip into the washer, idly picking up a fry and drowning it in one of the containers of ranch. 

"Sounds rough... do you two know anyone out here?" I shook my head. "Oh... why... why did you come out here?" Joey asked softly. I felt my tummy clench. 

"Because Adrian's my best friend... and I wasn't ready to let her go... I didn't wanna lose her." I mumbled. Joey was silent for a minute before he began breaking up pieces of fries and placing them on one of the clean napkins. I watched as he arranged them into the form of a stick figure offering it's shirt to another one. I felt my cheeks burn with the strength of my smile. 

"Now you know someone else out here!" He grinned up at me and I smiled right back at him. 

"I'm kinda glad we've been working out butt's off lately." I pulled out my phone and snapped a picture of the broken fry picture. Quickly I renamed it 'Meeting Joey' and saved it into my phone. He raised an eyebrow and resumed munching on his burger. We lapsed back into silence while we finished eating, at some point in time the driers buzzed. I glanced over and ignored it to finish my food. I wasn't ready to walk away from the cute crumbs yet. 

"Your number." Joey stated wiping his mouth off and crunching up his wrappers. I looked up, a confused expression layered on my face. 

"My number?" I asked. 

"Yep. That's how you can repay me, I'd like you're cell number." His bright blue eyes lingered on me carefully. I blinked. My number? A guy was asking for my number? Then again, I was still wearing his shirt. 

"Oh... when do you want this back?" I asked tugging at the hem of his shirt. He lifted his shoulders.

"Next time you see me's good." 

"Oi, dip shit. Time to go." My head snapped up at the sound of Adrian's voice. She was leaning just inside the doorway, her arms folded across her chest. I felt my lips break into a wide smile. 

"ADDY! This is Joey!" I gestured to him, and the to her. "Joey this is my friend Addy!" Joey lifted his hand in greeting and smiled widely. 

"Heey there!" He called out. She raised an eyebrow before picking up one of the baskets on a chair and heading over to me. She tapped me on the back of the head lightly as she passed me. 

"Nii-san?" I questioned. She glanced over her shoulder at me. 

"I have to get back to work dip shit." Oh. Oh. Oh. I brushed my fingers on my pants hoping to eliminate any crumbs as I rushed over to the dryer to help her pull things out and shove them into the basket. She lifted it and headed for the front door, I followed her until I could get to the other empty basket. I snatched it up and headed back to the dryer. 

"She always that... distant?" Joey asked carefully. I shook my head.

"I work a lot, she works more. She's just super sleepy... and honestly... lonely." I rolled my eyes and raked a load of bras into the basket. He nodded beside me. 

"I suppose that makes sense." He let out a deep sigh and tucked a slip of paper into my jean pocket before stepping back and over to where our trash was laying. Adrian came back it and gathered up our laundry soap and dryer sheets. She headed over to me and shoved them into the second basket. I backed out of the way so she could grab it and head outside, she always took charge when she was in a rush. I knew better than to get in her way. I glanced up at Joey as Adrian headed back outside. 

"Thank you Joey..." I smiled. He grinned back and held out his arms. I don't know what possessed me but I lunged into his embrace. He snaked his arms around me and hugged me against his chest tightly. 

"Hope to see you soon Simone, perhaps when things cool down for your friend a bit. Maybe things won't be as rushed." He released me and I reluctantly stepped away from his warm arms. 

"Ok...oh, don't you need my number?" I asked. A playful glint sparked in the depths of his blue eyes. 

"Nah." He waved at me before gathering our trash and headed for the nearest can. I watched him for a minute before heading out the door. I hesitated at the thresh hold and glanced back at him. His eyes were already on me. 

"Sweet Dreams Simone." He called out, his lips turned up in the smile I was already going weak for. I waved dumbly and darted out the door and into the passenger seat of Adrian's car. She glanced at me, I thought for sure I was in trouble, until I noticed the mischievous twinkle in her eyes as well. I decided to ignore it, and instead focus on the fact I may have made a new friend.


	3. The Melting Pot (J-Fred)

For possibly the hundredth time I twisted my fingers around a group of slit stems, my fingers picking at the silver ribbon that my roommate, Adrian had tied around them to keep them together. We'd ran out the night before and picked up some supplies to prepare for our double date on Valentines Day, including a bunch of roses, some chocolate from a shop and parchment. Any minute now two cars would pull up and park, Joey and Mark, and then we'd all head out to eat together. I honestly couldn't believe that Adrian and Mark hadn't started dating yet, but hey- whatever. 

In a futile attempt to calm my nerves I slid off of the edge of my bed and headed down the short hallway to Adrian's room. I rapped my knuckles against her bedroom door, and clutched the dyed roses to my chest. I listened to some shuffling behind the door before she pulled open the door looking frazzled. An ear bud was tucked inside her ear, the other one pinched between her fingers. 

"Heeey, can I come in?" I questioned. 

She eyed me before back up into her room. I slipped in and she shut the door behind me. Her room was dimly lit from the small bathroom attached to her room, and the fading sunlight streaming through her curtains. I'd dressed up almost fifteen minutes ago, I didn't want to be panicking even more when they got here and I wasn't done. Though Adrian, had decided not to. 

"Jittery?" She questioned shimming out of the dark blue towel that was wrapped around her chest. I nodded sheepishly. 

"First V-day with a guy... course I'm nervous." I replied looking away to hide the crimson tint in my face. Adrian chuckled and stepped into her bathroom again, focusing in on the mirror. 

"Chill lass, it'll be fine. We'll go eat, we'll come back here and split up our separate ways, and you two will get down to the nitty gritty!" She called out. I let out a small squeak and picked up one of the small red throw pillows on her bed, then whipped it at her. She stepped farther back into the bathroom before kicking the pillow back out. 

"We're not having sex!" I cried out, flustered. 

Her only response was to laugh more. I sighed and dropped onto her bed, setting the roses beside me. A bright red pile of cloth bounced slightly as I sat. Cocking my head to the side I reach out and picked up the material. It was soft in my hands, like some sort of fine cotton and silk blend. Carefully I held it out in front of me and smiled. She was going to wear a sexy red dress. 

"Red dress, huh?" I called out. Her gaze met mine in the mirror before flickering back to her light makeup. And I meant light, some light grey eye shadow, black eyeliner and maybe some lip gloss. "So why did you wait so long to get dressed?" 

"I was writing a last minute request." She replied coming out of the bathroom. 

"Wait..." Adrian looked up at my sudden tone change, I'd just registered something she had said. "What do you mean separate ways?! Where are you going after dinner?" I questioned. She smirked. 

"A place, besides, I am positive you and Joey would like to just chill out here for a little while all to yourselves. I mean I was with you when you picked up the bubble bath and scented candles!" She winked at me before holding out her hand. I set the dress in her palm and looked away.

Drrring Dooong. 

I looked up at the sound of the doorbell. I glanced at Adrian, she was mid pulling the dress up her body to hide her woman undergarments. She shimmied a little before shifting her arms in order to zip up the back of her dress. I wrinkled my nose, I always had a hard time zipping dresses behind me. 

"Will you get it?" I asked nervously picking up the roses again. 

"Yerp. Get your stuff and head down stairs lass." Adrian slipped past me and out into the hall. 

I watched her until she faded from my view and into the living room. Nerves jittering I stood and walked back to my room. I needed my purse, hoodie, and the box of candy. I scooped them up before flicking off my light and heading into the living room. My stomach dropped through the floor the minute I entered the room. Joey was perched on the edge of the couch, Mark sitting on the arm rest. I flushed fifty shades of red and back peddled into the kitchen. Shaking I set everything down so I could pull the hoodie over my arms. It might not hide my entire dress but, it was better than nothing. 

"Simone! Get your ass back in here!" Adrian called out. 

I swallowed hard and gathered my items into my arms again. *It's okay, you can do this. It's just Joey! You've seen him several times in the last month! You've even kissed before, you got this.* My brain was racing, trying to calm me down as I headed into the living room. I shuffled forward, my eyes locked on the hardwood floor and my pretty purple flats. 

"Hi Sim." I internally shivered at the sound of his voice. 

"Hiya Joey." I replied awkwardly, still not looking at either of the boy. 

"Ey Mark, you wanna come with me for a minute?" Adrian questioned from somewhere to my left. I heard him stand and pad over to her, before their footsteps faded down the hallway. I waited until I heard her door softly close before peeking up at Joey. He was staring at me, a soft twinkle in his eyes. 

"You look really pretty." He stated, standing up. 

I swallowed a lump in my throat and forced myself to look up at him. My tummy flipped in seven different ways. I couldn't tell if it was the small brown bear he was offering me, the vibrant bouquet of tiger lilies, easter lilies and violet orchids, or the outfit he was sporting. His vest, tie and pants were a dark grey color, like an elephant. The thought made me smile. He was also wearing a long sleeved dress shirt that was a silky black. I forced my gaze up to his face and held out my own arms. 

"An exchange?" A smile lit up his features even more. Carefully he swapped the small bear and flowers for the rainbow roses and box of chocolates. 

"Addy and I made those." I motioned toward the box of candy, more or less we'd made the chocolate stuff and then she'd helped me wrap the box in a shimmery silver paper. A hand written note was taped lightly to the front of the box. 

"Mind if I leave it all in the kitchen for now?" He asked. 

I shook my head and led him into the kitchen. It was a white room, white walls, counter and even white tiles. Too white. But since it was an apartment there wasn't much that Addy and I could do to change it so we dealt. I headed in and set my armful of flowers on the table beside the small teddy. Mentally I had already named him after Joey. Joey placed his rainbow roses and box down as well, perching on one of the stools around the table. 

"So you made these too I assume?" He gestured toward the roses and their sliced up stems. 

I nodded and watched as he gently unwrapped the candy box. It was in the shape of a heart, made from tapped up note cards with a wax lining. Mark would have a box similar in style of it, considering we'd hand made the boxes. Inside were several different types of candy. 

There were chocolate roses, small dark chocolate hearts that we'd carved into and decorated with white trims, two different styles of chocolate pretzels, several brightly colors homemade loli pops and a new experiment we'd tried. We'd taken a peanut butter pie recipe and re-modeled it into a heart shape and covered all the way around in graham cracker crumbs to where it was like a delicious frozen heart pie. 

"These... look... amazing." He looked up at me before trying one of the little heart pies and closing his eyes. "Mmmmm"

I giggled. 

"Want one?" He asked softly, offering me the box. I gazed at them longingly and shook my head. 

"We have some in the freezer still. Wanna stick your box up there for now?" I offered. He nodded and held the make-shift box out. I took it and carefully slipped it into the freezer. 

"You two ready?" I turned to see Adrian and Mark standing in the doorway. Adrian's hand was resting on the door frame, Mark's palm pressed into her hip. Judging by the way she was turning red, she was trying to ignore it, and failing. 

"Yep, yep, yep." I skipped over to Joey and slipped my hand into his. Automatically he slid his fingers between mine and held on. I grinned sheepishly and was actually a little grateful for the small purple flower decals on my nails. 

"Come on." Mark and Adrian led the way, and I was the last one out the door, making sure to lock it behind me. 

I followed them down the stairs and outside, I gasped as the chilly air blew up my dress. There were even small snowflakes fluttering down from the sky slowly. I shook my head in disbelief. It wasn't awful cold, just chilly. Together we made out way to Joey's car. Mark and Adrian slid into the backseat before Joey and I climbed into the front. The drive to the restaurant wasn't all that long, and I was beyond surprised when I saw the packed place. 

"Holy crap..." I whispered. I felt my seat lean back and twisted to see Adrian pulling herself up to look at the place too. 

"We booked it a few weeks ago." Mark spoke up from the back seat. 

"Wait- we didn't even know we were hanging out today until like a week ago!" I protested. Mark grinned, a mischievous glint in his dark brown eyes. 

"Either way- we might not be sitting together anyways. We booked for two tables, or a four seater if possible." Joey shifted uncomfortably and pulled into the parking lot. I couldn't help but stare out my window at the place, it was brightly lit and laughter could be heard coming from inside. 

"Hang on." Joey fished the keys out of the ignition before getting out of the car. 

I watched him duck around the car to my side. He popped open the door and held out his hand, smiling I placed my palm against his and stepped out of the car. I smiled as he led me away from the car, both of us leaving Mark and Adrian to get out themselves. It was a little bit mean, but at the same time they were grown adults! 

Joey's Pov

"Reservations for two." My fingers were laced between Simone's as usual. Her small frame was tucked up against my side, her hip smashed against mine. I smiled and let go of her hand to wrap my arm around her shoulders.

"Name?" 

"Fischbach, the other group is coming." I gestured over my shoulder to where Mark and Adrian were crossing the street. The man nodded and tucked several menus under his arm while gathering several bundles of silverware. 

"Please follow me!" He called out to Mark and Adrian. 

I glanced back in time to see them jogging to catch up to us. The four of us followed him further into the restaurant and around several crammed tables. He led us to a small table with a warmer in the center, and four chairs positioned around it. I slipped my hands around the back of one of the chairs and pulled it out, motioning for Simone to sit down. She smiled at me, a light pink tint to her cheeks. Carefully she shimmied out of her hoodie and sat it on the chair. My throat closed slightly, my heart aching in my chest. 

She was wearing a soft lavender dress, sure I may have been able to see the hem of it, but still. It only came down to the middle of her thighs and it didn't have any straps to hold it up. A large pinkish bow was wrapped around her middle, adding to the innocence of the dress itself. Smiling I slid her in, closer to the table before sliding into the chair beside her.

"May I take your drink orders?" The young waiter asked as Mark and Adrian eased into the seats across from us. He quickly placed menus down in front of each of us. 

"Water!" Adrian chimed quickly. I gazed at her then flipped the menu over and examined the drinks. There was a rather long list, but I couldn't have anything alcoholic since I was driving. 

"Water please." I set the menu back down and skimmed the front page. 

"Same." 

"Ditto!"

And that's about how most of the dinner went. For the most part we ordered the same things, salads, main courses and even our desserts were similar. The only difference was an occasional item or dressing, or in Mark's case, fish. Which him and Adrian had ended up splitting along with her Teriyaki steak. Despite the face that Simone and I had the same plates I still found myself exchanging random veggies with her back and forth. The conversation at our table varied all around the spectrum. From the food we were eating, to work, to video games, to sky diving and eventually to our plans for the evening. 

"Ready?" I asked glancing sidelong at Simone. She nodded but didn't speak. A chunk of chocolate was inside her mouth, resting on her tongue again. I smiled, I knew that when I kissed her goodnight she'd taste like a mixture of pineapples and chocolate. 

"Come on." Mark shifted, pulling out several bills from his wallet. I mimicked him, fishing several dollars out as well and laying them with his on the check. 

"Can we help pay?" Simone questioned, slowly standing up and fishing her hoodie from the chair seat. 

"Nope. All on us." I smiled back at her, before frowning. All of a sudden both her and Adrian were giving me pouty looks. "What?" 

"Please? We'll pay the tip!" Simone bartered. I shook my head, Mark's deep laugh rumbled from in front of me. Before I could say anything else both of them had fished out money and added it to the payment. 

"Time to go!" Adrian and Simone chimed out simultaneously. Simone reach out and slipped her fingers through mine, I smiled at her. 

"Alrighty. Let's go." I rolled my eyes and her dorkish excitement before letting her pull me outside and toward the car, Adrian and Mark in tow.


	4. Rainy Night (Markiplier)

Boisterous, slightly intoxicated laughter rang throughout the house. The last few months had been filled, less with work and more with people. Abigail, my best friend, had started dating a guy named Joey. Not that I was going to complain, Joey was a sweet heart, and I was happy she had found someone. Over the last two weeks I'd tagged along, under Abi's insistence, and met some of Joey's friends and family. His brothers Matthias and Bryan, and their lovely wives Amanda and Sarah. And by extension his friends, Mark, Ryan, and Matt. 

It had been a Team Edge day, Joey had forgotten but it had turned out fine. Most of the day the boys spent recording videos, and Abigail and I went between talking to Amanda and watching the guys play around in the back yard. It was the first time I'd met Mark, Ryan and Matt. And after that I had only met them two more times, but I could still pick out their distinct laughs from my perch in the hall. It was Saturday evening and I was sitting on a stair case with a pink flavored beer pinched between my thumb and forefinger. 

It was just a small get together of friends, but at some point earlier in the night I had lost interest watching Amanda snuggle against Matthias. Tired of finding my eyes locked on Joey and Abigail's intertwined fingers. I sighed softly and leaned back until the edge of the stairs pressed against my spine. The lights cast down a soft yellow color, and even though I wasn't looking I knew they would be giving my skin an odd warm glow. Glancing at my watch I felt my tummy twist, it was only going on eight-thirty. 

"Matthias said you were hiding in the hall." I shifted and sat up slowly at the new voice. Mark was leaning against the wall, a bottle of water clutched in his hand. His dark eyes were focused on me from behind his glasses, which were sliding down the bridge of his nose. I couldn't help but remember what Abi had said earlier, that Mark and I matched. 

Which to some degree we had earlier, and still kinda did. Both of us had naturally dark hair, though part of his was dyed a deep blue. Both of us had glasses crammed on our faces, both had adorned similar blue jeans in turn that we'd both rolled the pant legs up on because otherwise they were too long. The only difference seemed to have been out sweatshirts and shirts. His was an actual hoodie, which was currently zipped up mid-sternum. It was grey and a darker grey, where mine was black and white. And a sweater that pulled over. I could see the collar of his shirt under the hoodie, it was white. I glanced down at my own chest. My shirt hung off of my shoulders and was light and flowey, and black. Black was a comfort color to me, besides after Abi's comment I was glad for the complete difference in color of Mark and I. 

"Evie?" He questioned taking a step toward me. I looked back up at him. 

"Hmm?" 

"Why are you in the hall?" Mark questioned taking a sip out of his water bottle. I shrugged and looked away. He sighed and walked over to the stairs, his body slumping down beside me. I felt my skin crawl slightly. The staircase might have been wide enough for two people to sit on without touching, if they were both pressed against opposite rails. But I hadn't been pressed against mine, and he didn't bother to either. Instead I felt his thigh pressed against mine through our jeans, our shoulders brushing every time one of us inhaled. 

"I'm bored." I murmured trying to focus on something other than where we were touching. Mark was my friend, a cute one, but still a friend. Mentally I scolded the warm feeling the pressure of his body brought me. 

"You're sitting in a hall all alone, and you wonder why you're bored?" He glanced over at me. I shrugged. 

"Abigail is the one who brought me along anyways." I looked up and found an offended Mark looking back at me. "What?" I questioned.

"We're so boring you didn't even wanna come?!" He wiggled his eyebrows. 

"I don't do well around couples, they make me lonely." I frowned slowly. I hadn't meant to say that, and yet there it was out in the open. I felt like a spot light was focused on me, his dark eyes were searching my face. 

"Why didn't you ask to be a single couple together then?" He asked. 

"A single couple? Mark.... what the hell is that even?" I asked bemused. 

"We could be two single people hanging out together to do the couple activities." He retorted. 

I rolled my eyes and lifted the rim of my bottle to my lips. The glass was cool against my skin, the liquid chilled as it rolled along my tongue and down my throat. Despite it being only my second one, my eyelids were heavier than normal. My body warmer than it would be on an average day, though from what I could tell my brain seemed to be functioning on normal standards. My mind shifted back to my blurted comment about being lonely, perhaps it was impairing my better judgement after all. 

"Wanna go sit out back?" Mark asked. Interest piqued, I nodded. Slowly Mark stood, I flushed as his booty became eye level. I quickly averted my gaze and reach out to grasp the railing so I could pull myself to my feet. 

"Come on." He glanced back at me before heading toward the kitchen. I grumbled softly and shuffled after him, my footsteps muffled because of my socks. I glanced up as we entered the kitchen, everyone was sitting around the island counter, whipped cream splattered on several faces. Abigail looked up at our entrance, her eyes shifting between Mark and I before settling on me. I could see a mischievous glint hiding in her sky blue eyes. I looked away and followed Mark through the sliding glass door into the backyard. 

"Do you have music on your phone?" Mark asked stepping toward me, I sucked in a breath as he entered my personal bubble again. I dug my phone out of my back pocket and swiped the screen. I felt my skin heat up as my phone lit up. The screen saver was a picture of Bryan cracking Mark on the ass with a ping pong paddle. I felt him shift closer to see over my shoulder. I shot him a dirty look through my eyelashes. 

"Bubble invader..." I mumbled under my breath. 

"What?"

"Nothing." I replied quickly opening my YouTube app. It opened up on a playlist I had made called Red Hearts. Immediately it began playing country, it was something I'd crammed together for a story playlist. I gasped as Mark slipped my phone out of my hands and set it on the ground beside the door. Based on the volume increase I'd say he turned it to the max sound. Uncertainly I watched him. 

~You light up every street light. You stop every heart when you start that smile, but somehow you're still lonely. Oh let me show you why you're the only one I wanna give my heart to. If you give me the chance, oh I'll show you it's alright. Oh watch your life. To pick you up, I'd lay you down. i'd hold you 'til you come unwound. I'd make you feel like you're all I need in this whole world. Ah, if you were my girl. If you were my girl.~

"I didn't know you were into music like this." Mark's eyes locked on me. I chewed on my bottom lip thoughtfully looking at him. 

"I listen to almost everything." 

"Do you dance?" He questioned advancing toward me. I shook my head, resisting the urge to back away. He raised an eyebrow, unzipping his hoodie and discarding it beside my phone. 

"I dance about as well as a moldsmal." I replied thinking about the green gelatin. 

His expression seemed thoughtful. I was caught off guard when he lunged for me. I let out a 'meep' sound as he drew me close to his chest. He lifted my hand and set it on his shoulder, then lowered that same arm until it was wrapped around my waist, his hand pressing into the small of my back. I could feel the movement in his shoulder and it fascinated me. I shivered slightly as he slid his fingers along my free arm, from my shoulder down to my palm, where he laced his fingers between mine. His thumb overlapping my own. 

I stumbled as he took a step back pulling me with him. I dug my fingers into his shoulder as he led me around the back yard in a circle. As we moved in a large circle we spun in smaller ones, and I finally understood he wasn't sure how to dance either. He was just leading for my benefit. I couldn't help but break into a grin. He chuckled and I could feel it reverberate through his body. I had to look up to see his eyes, I wasn't the tallest person around only five-five, but he was still several inches taller. 

"What chu laughing for, huh?" I questioned, my lips twisted up in a smile. 

"You. You're grinning like you're drunk. Are you?" He asked raising an eyebrow. 

I shook my head. I took a deep breath before stepping closer to him and closing the space that had been between us. My heart had went from a normal tha-dump, to hammering against my ribs like a humming bird. I slid my arm away from his shoulder, my elbow pressed against his tricep my palm finding the center of his back to rest. Peeking up at him from the corner of my eyes I almost passed out, sure I'd stepped closer but I hadn't really processed him being so close. If I tilted my head to the side an inch or so, my cheek would press into his. I could feel every time he exhaled, the warm breath rolling down the right side of my neck. He didn't seem to mind, in fact he simply slowed the spinning pace to where we were just drifting around the yard slowly. I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead into the crook, where his neck and shoulder joined. 

I hummed softly along to one of the songs playing, Lifehouse if I was correct. I inhaled deeply, taking in the smell of the cool air as well as the warm scents that generally accompanied Mark. The faint aroma of his shampoo and body wash, warm leather, pool water, and dog shampoo. I felt my lips twinge up into a smile again. Sure most people could do without the pool water and dog smell, but I kinda liked it. I'd grown up around dogs, so that part was actually more relaxing than I expected. I continued humming, the action sending soft vibrations through my body. My scalp prickled as a sudden chilled spot on my shoulder. I opened my eyes slowly and pulled away from the warm bubble of body heat. A second spot splattered my shoulder again, this time running down into the back of my shirt. 

"Uh oh..." I shifted and tilted my head back to look at the sky, I could feel Mark's body shift and figured he was looking up at as well. 

"Rain?" He questioned. He recoiled as a droplet landed right on his nose. He shook his head and looked down at me. I attempted to let him go but his arm tightened around my waist, his fingers gripping mine tighter. 

"Mark?" His gaze met mine firmly. Several more drops had landed on my skin, and more were falling. He grinned, the action showing from one canine to the other. I blinked and stared into his eyes. 

"We're gonna get wet." I stated, my eyebrows furrowing in the middle. 

"A little water never hurt anyone." He retorted, still smiling. His body shifted to where we were rocking back and forth lightly. 

"You're in white." 

"Will my soaking muscles make you swoon?" He questioned idly, his gaze unwavering. I chuckled, though to be honest I wasn't sure. I wouldn't have thought they would, but now that I could feel the heat from his skin against mine I was less sure of a few things. The rain picked up, 

"Wheeeeeeeeeeee!" I let out a small scream as he suddenly loosened his grip on me and swooped down. One of his arms wrapped around my shoulder, the other tucking behind my knees. Mark on the other hand was now frantically shouting 'wheee' at the top of his lungs. He hoisted me into the air, his arms supporting me as he spun around in wild circles. I clung to him, my arms wrapped around his neck. It didn't take long for the rain to soak whatever on my body it could find. Under my hands I could feel Mark's skin turning slippery. 

"Put me down pleeeease." I begged, hoping I could at least hold on until he opted to set me down.

A second scream caught my attention and I turned to see Joey carrying Abigail into the downpour, Matt, Amanda, Sarah, Bryan, Matt and Ryan were all standing in the doorway watching curiously. Beneath me Mark's chest rumbled with his deep laughter. Matt and Ryan exchange glances before ducking around the others and out into the rain as well. Mark shifted and tossed me lightly into the air so he could readjust his grip on me. I squeaked and clung to him as he carried me toward Abi and Joey. I reach out with one of my hands and tapped her on her shoulder.

"Heyyyy." I smiled back at her, she glared at me playfully. She turned away and buried her face in the crook of his neck her arms wrapped around his neck as well. 

"AYEYAYEYAYEAYEYAEE!!!!!" Matthias screeched, grabbing Amanda's hand and pulling her outside. A moment later Sarah and Bryan both darted outside as well. In minutes everyone was outside, the sounds of their laughter now bouncing around in the night air. Rain continued to pour down, soaking everyone to the skin while sappy love songs continued to blare up from my phone. 

"Still lonely?" His voice whispered against my ear. I shifted slightly and looked up at Mark, his dark eyes were twinkling playfully. I smiled and reach up to plant a kiss on his cheek. 

"Thank you Mark." I giggled, adding my voice to the chorus of laughter.


	5. Travels (Markiplier)

Seeing him after so long was as wonderful as I had imagined it. Ryan had answered the door- but I'd told him I'd wanted to surprise him. So he called him- told him the door was for him. And out he came, a confused look on his face. He was in a pair of dark jeans and my favorite red flannel. His eyes paused- lingering on me as I came through the door and set my bags down. I could feel my lips turning up into a smile. 

"You're home early." He whispered walking toward me slowly.

"I missed you too much." His eyes were locked on mine. 

Two solid brown pools of warmth and love. even behind his glasses I could make out the glint in his eyes. He was my flawed perfection. His never tidy pink fwoop of hair. The always prickly stubble that tickled and made me itch when he kissed me. The dorkish, semi-blind dark orbs behind his glasses. Te soft upturn of his lips, his dimples. 

From the hastily buttoned flannel- to the socks I wasn't convinced matched. Every inch seemed focused on me- and I loved it. I felt my heart tingle as he reach out for me. His warm palms cupping just below my jaw, his thumb stroking the lowest part of my ear. He smiled and leaned in until his forehead bumped into mine. His skin was warm against mine. 

Slowly I placed my own hands on top of his hips. I could feel the soft cotton of his shirt, the bumpy waistband of his jeans under my palms. I breathed in, taking in the smell of our soap and shampoo, the smell of the laundry detergent, the warm leather of his chair, and the sweat that came from hours in a room alone playing games. All these things mixed with the three places we touched were enough to east the stress from my travels. 

I let my eyes close as I broke into a broad grin. He chuckled deeply and I didn't have to open my eyes to see his toothy, heart melting smile.

"I missed you too." He whispered under his breath so only I could hear him. 

With a smile still on my face I pressed closer to him, and pressed my lips against the hollow of his throat before pressing my cheek against his chest. He rested his chin on my head, our arms wrapped around one another. And I stood there listening to the heartbeat and breathing of this beautiful soul.


	6. Nightmare Cuddles (Markiplier)

I jerk awake in my room, fat droplets of tears streaking down my face and neck. I try to get a grip on my pounding heartbeat and breathing, but the nightmare clings to me like a shadow.

"I would never take their hope." The words haunt me as I choose to walk away from the only man I had ever truly loved. The pain sears through me like hot coals. I sit up among my pillows and blankets on the floor. My legs are pulled to my chest, but it's uncomfortable, so I hold onto one leg as another wave of pain and loneliness wash over me.   
More tears spill over my face, this time a gut wrenching sob accompanies them. Ignoring the fact that I'm only in my undies and a tank top, I wrap my flowery stripped blanket around myself and stand. Without hesitating I make my way toward his room. I need to know he's still there.   
His bedroom door is closed, I contemplate knocking but it's close to three in the morning. Instead I opt to open the door slowly, the room is almost completely dark. His silhouette is still clear on the bed. His blankets only cover up to his hips. His body is sprawled over the right half of the bed. His shirt must he on the floor somewhere because I can see his naked back. His face is aimed at the middle of the bed, his arms wrapped tightly around his pillow. He looks so peaceful. His expression is relaxed, his long lashes curling softly, a natural smile line carved interest his cheeks. He is here but even so, I sob again, covering my mouth with my palm. My blanket falls from my grip as I attempt to keep from balling like a baby.   
"Evie?" I jump at the sound of my name. Mark is sitting up and trying to blink the sleep from his eyes. I feel my chest tighten and a soft whimper escapes from my lips.   
"Hey hey hey, what's wrong?" Mark swings his legs over the edge of the bed and walks over to where I'm standing.  
"Bad dreams..." I whisper. He wraps his arms around me, pulling me close and traping my arms between us. I sniffle and press my cheek again his chest.   
"Do you want to stay in here?" He asks gently. I nod against his chest. He doesn't hesitate to lead me to his bed. I crawl in while he heads around to the other side. More tears wind down my face. Mark only sighs and pulls me close to him. He pulls me down so I'm laying against him, his arms wrapped protectively around me. "It's okay." He murmurs, sleep already overtaking him again. I press closer to his chest and let his deep even breathing lull me to sleep.


	7. Baking Simulator (Jacksepticeye & Markiplier)

/We'll be there in five minutes./ Evie was focused on her phone, her tailbone was pressed against the counter in the kitchen. 

Across from her was an island counter, used more for decoration and sitting than food prepping. Leaning against it from the other side was Simone, her blonde hair was pulled back into a pony tail that hung against her back. Hanging from her hips was a red and plaid skirt, and under that a pair of black leggings. Her top half was covered by a white blouse, though why, Evie couldn't fathom. 

"Mark and Jack'll be here in about five minutes." She spoke up hitting the power button on her phone and slipping it into the side pocket of her jeans. 

Instead of white on the top she was sporting a black spaghetti strapped tank top. Simone let out something of a little chirp and set about the kitchen searching for the mixing bowls and cake pans. Turning to face the cupboards Evie busied herself with pulling out the ingredients they would need to make the two cakes. When the small apartments doorbell finally rang there was a rather hefty accumulation of bags, containers and dishes on the counter tops. 

"You gonna get it?" Simone questioned glancing at the brunette. Evie nodded and ducked out of the room. From tile to carpet, on the upside of a tiled kitchen, the mess that was unavoidable would be much easier to clean up. 

"Hey guys." Evie beamed, pulling open the front door. 

"Hi!" Jack beamed, flashing his thousandwatt smile. His hair was swooped off to one side, and the sleeves of his maroon shirt were rolled up to his elbows. Behind him Mark was grinning and staring at Evie.

"Come in, before Simone looses her shit." Evie stepped back out of the doorway and let the boys pass her by. "Whew, one of you smells nice." She called out after them. They exchanged a glance.

"Awe man, only one of us? Must be me, Marks a stinky." Jack grinned.

"Nah I just have a more manly odor then you." He retorted. Evie rolled her eyes and ushered them into the kitchen.

"Jack!" Simone launched herself at him, throwing her slender arms around his neck. Jack wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her back. 

"Does that mean it's our turn?" Mark questioned bumping against Evie. She rolled her eyes, but still turned and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Woo!" He cheered mockingly while hugging her back. 

"So what tis the agenda for this gatherin?" Jack asked. Evie and Mark broke apart, turning to face Jack and Simone. 

"CAKE!" Simone reach out to grab a bag of flour and held it against her chest. "You and me," She pointed to Jack then herself. ",and Mark and Evie. We're gonna team up and see whose cake turns out better. We already asked for some opinions on what kinds of cake to make and we both choose one for our teams." Simone grinned before grabbing Jack's hand and leading him around to the far side of the counter. 

"Mmmmm, so what kind of cake are we doing?" Mark asked. 

"The yummy kind." Evie winked playfully before heading to the counter and pulling a sheet of paper toward herself. "We are going to be making what's called Dreamy Cream cupcakes, Jack, you two are making an Oreo, Kit-Kat Cake." Evie slid a second piece of paper across the counter to them. 

"So is that it, just cake baking?" Mark piped up, leaning over Evie's shoulder to examine the recipe. Simone smirked.

"Course not- Losers get a small cherry cake in the face and have to pay for dinner." Simone grinned toothily and tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear. Across the counter Jack and Mark shared a look before they snatched two separate bags of flower. 

Smiling widely Simone and Evie joined the fray, in a rush to get done and make something yummy the air was soon filled with the sounds of music and clouds of flour. It didn't take long for the mess to become evident. Dishes stacked up quickly while the batter and frosting was made. On Simone and Jack's side of the counter they had a dark vanilla batter, the smell of crushed vanilla beans wafted up from it. Simone grinned and pushed loose strands of hair away using the back of her hand. Carefully Jack placed the mixer into the dish and flicked the switch on. Globs of batter flew out of the mixing bowl, splattering everything. Mark and Evie ducked behind the counter, but Simone's shirt looked like it had been used as target practice. 

"Whoops, guess it was on high." Jack apologized, but his face was cracked in a wide smile. Tentatively Evie peeked over the counter before motioning for Mark to follow her. On their side both the batter and the frosting were coming along nicely. 

"He-ey, we could make this a different color!" Mark pointed at the stark white frosting with the cake batter spatula. Evie raised an eyebrow. 

"We have food coloring, but what color?" 

"Green!" Jack called out. 

"Purple!" Simone shouted. 

Mark and Evie looked up at them, then shook their heads in unison. 

"What about... blue?" Evie offered. Mark seemed to consider it before nodding.

"Blue works." 

Evie abandoned the counter in favor of one of the cupboards. After a few minutes of rummaging she was rewarded with a pack of easter food coloring. She quickly returned to the counter and removed the blue bottle. It was supposed to be neon colors, which meant that the colors would need a few more drops if they wanted it to be darker. She splashed in a few drops, then watched as Mark whipped it together. The white was replaced with an abnormally light blue, so she added a few more drops into the mix. 

"Ohhhh ho ho, that looks so good!" Jack was still mixing their batter, but his eyes were locked onto the frosting in Mark and Evie's dish instead. 

"Yeah well, too bad! Get yer own frosting!" Mark called out, pulling the bowl closer to himself. Evie rolled her eyes and dipped a spoon into it, removing a small glob and holding it toward Jack. Mark made a gasping noise. 

"Ohhhh see she shares!" Jack leaned forward only to receive the glob of frosting on the tip of his nose instead of his mouth. Simone didn't waste a second. She pulled her phone out and snapped an image of Jack. He rolled his eyes and wiped some of the frosting off, choosing to lick it from his fingertip. "Mmmm that's pretty good!" He squeaked. 

Evie giggled and reach past Mark to retrieve a plastic baggie filled with tiny white cupcake papers. She made quick work of slipping them into the two metal dishes, then slid it over to Mark. 

"So how do we add the filling?" Mark questioned. 

"After they're baked, so go ahead and fill the cups. Are you two ready to stick yours in the oven yet?" She asked looking up at Simone and Jack. 

"Yeah- one sec." Simone fished out two round pans and sprayed a thick layer of cooking oil in the bottom and on the sides. Jack splashed half of their batter into one pan then dumped the rest of it into the second dish. "Reeeady to go!" Jack called out lifting one of the pans. 

Evie pulled open the over and placed the cupcakes onto the bottom rung, before taking the pie shaped dishes from Jack and Simone and placing them onto the bottom rung.

"And now we wait." Mark mumbled. Simone punched a few buttons on the microwave and a twenty-five minute counter began ticking down. 

"Awe man- I don't wanna wait." Jack pouted. Simone rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, before pulling him out of the kitchen and into the living room. Jack shuffled along after Simone until she shoved him down onto the couch that is. 

"Whoa whoa, slow down lass!" Simone crawled onto the couch and flopped down on Jack's body. He groaned softly under the sudden weight and wrapped his arms around her. 

"Heey, you still have frosting all over your nose." She pointed out, pointing at but not quite touching the left over blue glob on his face. His light blue eyes watched her until she swiped off the frosting and smeared it across his lips. He swiped his tongue across them, reminding Simone of an old Scooby Doo episode. 

"Rooby- Dooby-Doo!" Evie howled flopping down in one of the armchairs. Between her fingers was a glass bottle of orange soda. Mark followed suit, a similar bottle pinched between his fingers. He even sat down in the same chair, right on top of Evie's lap. "Ow- ow! BONEY BUTT!" Evie smacked Mark lightly on his butt and pushed him off of her lap. He landed with a thud on the ground, miraculously not spilling his drink all over the floor. 

"Not cool woman!" He declared. 

"Hey who wants to watch Who's Line is it Anyway?" Jack proposed snatching a remote off of the coffee table and flipping on the TV. Simone lunged for the controller to the play-station and turned it on. 

The four of them settled down between the couch and the chair. Jack and Simone snuggled on the couch, and Evie and Mark squished together in the chair. They only made it through one episode before the timer in the kitchen was going off. The living room had become flooded with the aroma of cake. Evie squirmed out from under Mark and headed into the kitchen. She removed the cakes, checking them one at a time as hot air blasted her in the face. 

"Done!!!" She called out setting them out on a few drying racks. "They still need about thirty minutes to cool though so, anyone up for another episode?" Evie asked heading into the living room and plopping down on Mark's lap. He grunted and set his arms on her hips. 

Jack had snuggled both of his arms around Simone's shoulders and she had nestled her head against his chest. Every time he laughed it reverberated through his chest. Causing a soft humming pulse to go through Simone's head. Both relaxing and sweet. 

It was similar for Evie, every time Mark let out a deep chuckle it caused his entire torso to convulse. His eyes crinkled at the corners, his dimples showing fully. Every time he laughed Evie had her own mixed reactions. Instead of just laughing, her spine was flooded with goosebumps because of Mark's low voice against her back. At one point Mark began laughing so hard that his tone lifted several octaves and crescendo-ed into hysterical giggles. Evie felt herself respond with her own giggles, on the couch Jack and Simone were both watching with amused smiles. 

"I think- it's time to frost the stuff. Before Mark dies over there." Simone pulled away from Jack's loving embrace and stood. She grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. "C'mon we have a contest to win!" She declared and tugged him to his feet. They darted into the kitchen. 

"Oh crap!" Evie jumped to her feet, turned and tugged Mark to his feet. They bolted into the kitchen after Jack and Simone. They were already plopping copious amounts of chocolate frosting between the two cakes in order to hold them together. Then they began coating them in a nice even coat, doing surprisingly well. 

Mark uncovered the blue frosting and was about to start covering the cakes but Evie placed a hand on his arm. "We need to fill them first!" She smiled and began cutting part of the center out and cutting a small sliver from the tops of the center. "Just put a glob inside and then this," She handed up the sliver of the center, "on the top." 

"Okay, I got this." He grinned and began plopping blobs of blue goop inside the cupcakes before carefully placing the tops over the frosting. Evie scooped out the rest of the centers before starting to frosting the tops. When Mark was done filling them he began raining chocolate chips down on the frosting covered ones. 

Across the counter Jack and Simone were just adding the finishing touches. Along the bottom was a line of molted milk balls, and on top of each one a kit-kat was pressed into the side of the cake, clinging there in the frosting. On the top were several attempted decorative swirls, each one had an oreo placed vertically on top. 

The four of them stepped back and eyed the cakes. Both of them looked pretty good, impressive to say the least. Jack looked up and eyed Evie and Mark. "I have... a question..." 

"What's up?" She questioned looking up at him.

"How're we suppose to judge them?" He asked, his eyes shifting from their cake to the cupcakes. 

"I got this." Evie stepped around Mark and over to the fridge. She pulled open the door and then bent down to fish out two pre-made cherry cakes. She turned and set them on an empty space on the counter, before turning and pulling two more from the fridge. 

"Whoa... four?" Mark looked from the cakes to the girls.

"Yeah, we fully intended for everyone to get a cake in the face from the get go." Simone smiled sweetly. 

"Oh-ho reaaaaly?" Mark slowly smirked, Jack's face bust into a grin. His blue eyes twinkling mischievously. Without a moment of hesitation he uncapped one of the cakes and lifted it up. Mark lunged forward and tapped the bottom of the cake, the momentum carried it up into his face. The cake fell from his hand, his face dripping whipped cream and cherry filling. The tips of his bangs were covered with heavy white cream. He blew a breath out from between his lips causing more cream to splatter the floor. 

Evie gasped from across the counter, Jack rubbed the cream out of his eyes. Mark stood, his hand extended to a cake that was pressed against Evie's face. Her hands were cradled just below the pan. Slowly Mark let go of it, the pan fell into her palms. Her face was covered completely in white cream, and red jelly. She let the pan clatter to the floor and drug pulled off her glasses. Small circles were clean right around her eyes. She blinked slowly before carefully whipping her glasses off on Mark's shirt. He stared down at her, one eyebrow arched, a smirk plastered on his face. Jack and Simone were both giggling. 

Evie quickly popped off the cap of the third cake and stepped toward Mark. He licked his lips before pulling of his glasses. "Hit me! I'm re---" He was cut off by the cake smashed into his face. Evie let go of the pan for it to slowly slide off and into the floor. Mark waited a minute before shaking his head rapidly, splattering cream and jelly all around the room and splattering their clothes. 

"Awe man, I feel left out." Simone pouted. Jack didn't hesitate to lift the final cake and smush it into her face. She wiped off her face slightly before throwing her arms around Jack's neck and smashing her lips against his. Jack stumbled back slightly, wrapping his arms around her waist. Simone clung to him, enjoying the warm fuzzy feeling that was spreading through her like wildfire. 

"Does that mean it's our turn?" Mark bumped his hip against Evie's. 

"Haha... You wish." She retorted. Inside her heart was hammering, if only they were dating. 

"I do..." He mumbled turning her to face him. She felt her cheeks light up under the cream. 

"Erm... Wh-what?" She stuttered. Before she could protest he leaned in and pressed his lips against her cheek. Evie chuckled and wrapped her arms around him.

"Well wasn't that anti-climatic." Simone was looking up at her best friend. 

"Oh shush!" Evie snapped. Grinning Simone shuffled over to them, pulling Jack in tow. Grinning like and evil queen she leaned forward and took Mark's hand and then took Evie's and carefully placed them together. 

"And ta-da." Simone clapped her hands together before leaning in for another kiss from Jack's creamy face. Evie rolled her eyes and laced her fingers with Mark's. What she didn't notice was the smile spreading across his lips.


	8. Pineapple Pizza (Markiplier)

In my entire life I'd only ever had three things I could say with certainty that I loved. My family, pineapple pizza, and Markiplier's monthly charity streams. I lived with my family because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't balance my spending to my paychecks. And there was only two reasons why, I had to have a pizza at least once a week, and I'd blow all my spending money on Mark's streams. But for the last five months I had been holding back, only putting like twenty dollars toward each charity that had happened. And with that, I had amassed almost 4,000 dollars! Yeah... I guess when I put my mind to something it wasn't to hard to accomplish... Not to mention that I didn't splurge on much more than gas money and stuff for my lunches. And of course the stash of sugary goodness that I liked to hide in the empty drawer of my dresser. 

*Ding* 

Over on the left side of my desk my phone screen was lit up with a new notification. Walking over I slid my finger across the screen and punched in my pin number. At the top of the screen a notification from YouTube was staring up at me. Markiplier has gone live. 

"Whaaaat?!" I glanced at the clock in the bottom right corner of my laptop screen, it was ten in the morning for me, but I was fairly certain that it was closer to seven in the morning for him. I cocked my head to the side and clicked open a YouTube tab and load up the live video. 

"Hellllllloooo? Can you hear me? Is anybody out there? HEELLLLLLOOO?" I wince as Mark calls out into the microphone. Rolling my eyes I wave at the screen, not that he can see me back. I join the quickly swelling chat box and send a hello. His eyes skim the chat box, occasionally calling out greetings to the swarm of Mark-iplites. I shiver lightly in my conditioned room. Quickly I lunge across my room and snatch my Pewdiepie pj pants and an elastic hair band off the top of my dresser. 

"I just made a post on twitter and facebook, so we should be filing in..... Heeloo. Hi. Hi!" Mark continued to call out while I crammed my legs into my pants and sloppily pulled my hair up in a ponytail. 

"Okay everyone, so we're going to be raising money for the depression and bipolar support alliance. And yes you may be thinking that we just did that one, but that was about five months ago and that's a long time to go without a charity livestream. But the reason I wanted to go with the depression and bipolar charity support alliance again is because, I did that charity stream right before... before Daniel died and that was a big event towards the end of the year... and that threw everything out of whack obviously and we're just now coming back into a sense of normalcy... And we're back and ready to move on. We're motivated to work and I'm ready to start up the charity livestreams again. And I thought that I wanted to start up where we left off on. There's links down in the description and there is a link to the go fund me page, and it's the same one that I had open last time... So the goal last time was 100,000 and we managed... to get to 200,000 and for this livestream I would like to try and get to 300,000." 

"EVIE! Are you awake yet? WE HAVE TO GOOOOO." I winced as my mother called me from downstairs. I glanced at the door but then opted to ignore her and turned my attention back to the computer screen where Mark was looking back at me and thousands of other people. Maybe, just maybe if she still thinks I'm asleep I won't have to go. Last week I had promised to go with her to the store when she went shopping this weekend. And of course that it would be my luck that it would land on the Saturday when Mark was having his stream. 

"Evie?" I let out a soft sigh as she knocked her knuckles lightly against my door. I glanced at Mark, and paused the screen. I found my eyes locked on his dark brown ones, his mouth was hanging half open with half said words, his hand was halfway through a run through his newly dyed blue hair. I sighed and stood up as my mother opened the door. "So you were awake and ignoring me." She rolled her eyes and leaned up against the door frame. 

"So are you still going or what?" She asked. 

Nope. I'm staying here and watching all twelve hours of Markiplier's charity stream. And then I'm going to donate a stash of over two-thousand dollars that I've saved up for these very livestreams. Well... that's what I wanted to say. Instead I nodded and fished a pair of my jeans out of my dresser and tossed them onto my bed. 

"Yep- Just give me like fifteen minutes to go ahead and get dressed and I'll be downstairs. Kay?" I questioned. She smiled and closed the door as she headed back downstairs. I eyed the door before dropping back into my office chair and hitting play. Mark was just loading up Kerbal Space Program. I smiled and watched the chat box speed up, everyone asking him things, telling him words, seeking love and advice from the man on camera. My lips never turned down as I scrolled down and clicked open the Go Fund Me donation page. Chewing my lip I quickly filled out the forms and entered my amount, 3,500 even. Parts of my gut warned me not to, but that was what my money was for. It was what I'd been saving it all for and what better of a cause than depression, then very thing I dealt with everyday. 

I never met Daniel, but I owe him my life. YouTube has saved me so many times, and I would do so much for you guys if I could. Daniel I miss you so much, Mark please don't give up on us. We love you, we're here for you and we'll fight for you as much as you do for us. I wish I could actually stay and watch the stream, but life beckons me away to come see the outside world. I hope you guys have a blast. 

I quickly finished up my note and hit send. A little thank you message popped up and then a notification popped up on the side showing that I had donated. My eyes burned with tears as I closed the pages and links down and began getting dressed for the day. Maybe we'd get home and get lucky, he'd still be streaming. I mean typically he went on for about twelve hours anyways. In a mild sulk I gave my computer one last glance before heading out of my room. 

~~~~

Five. Five 'o friggin clock. I was forcing myself not to scowl as I helped my mother carry in the groceries. Not only was there the usual food, we'd had to get cat food and dog food, toiletries and then she'd gotten distracted by a couple of plant stores on the way home. I'd practically gnawed my lip raw by the time we pulled into the drive way. All I wanted to do was go upstairs, pull on my pjs and watch what was left of Mark's livestream while I ate pudding. Struggling I loaded up my arms with multiple blue and green reusable bags on either arm and hoisted them through the side door of the house. She gave me an odd look as I set everything on the counter and hurried up the stairs, slamming my door behind me. 

"Evie?' She called up the stairs after me. I scowled and began tripping out of my jeans and cramming my legs back into my pjs and baggy shirt. 

"What's up mom?" I called out leaning toward the door. She eased it open a crack and peaked inside. 

"Are you ok?" She questioned. I half smiled. 

"I'm just really tired, I didn't sleep super well last night. I'm going to take a nap." Mom continued to eye me for a moment. 

"Take a nap or watch YouTube?" She asked raising an eyebrow. I couldn't hide the guilty smile that plastered itself on my face. 

"He might still be doing his livestream... I just want to catch the last few hours of it." I put on the saddest look I could muster and waited to see what she would do. With a defeated sigh she shut the door and walked off. I waited until her footsteps faded down into the kitchen to put away the groceries. 

Curling up in the pleather upholstery of my chair I popped open my laptop and clicked open the google chrome tab and headed over to YouTube. Off to the left side of the screen I skimmed through the list of my subscriptions before finally landing on Mark's. Clicking over to it the link lured my to his channel page, but there wasn't anything about a current livestream and when I clicked onto the video- there wasn't a chatbox. It was over, and only six hours long. 

"Awe man." I pouted and began watching it from the beginning. After about twenty minutes I sighed and paused the video, resting my head on the desk. "It's just not the same..." I grumbled. For a minute I sat there before switching from YouTube to Twitter and scrolling down the page. 

Wade complaining about his pizza being under cooked and not nearly cheesy enough. 

Bob mentioning his and Mandy's next livestream date. 

Matthias and Amanda eating donuts.

And Mark's frantic post about the depression and bipolar livestream, and about some weird reward for the top donator. I paused and re-read the tweet. The top donator would get to spend a weekend with Markiplier after being flown out. I wrinkled my nose. 

"Lucky bastards." 

*Ding*

I glanced up as a notification popped up at the top of my Twitter. I eyed it before clicking it open. I swear to god my heart stopped beating. 

A message from Mark himself was stored in my inbox, and as a second message popped up in it I realized that he was online. Right now. I quickly opened it and scanned the messages. 

Hey! Congratulations on winning the donation prize! Sorry to hear you didn't get to watch the live stream, but hopefully you had a 'fun' time in the real world! I can't wait to talk to you and set up the dates for you to come hang out with me. 

AND YES, THIS IS REALLY ME MARKIPLIER! 

I giggled and re-read the messages before typing a quick response. 

Hello Mr. Iplier. My name is Evie, I can't wait to talk to you either. And as far as a date and time goes... well I have no life. So anytime that works for you is good for me!

I watched as another message popped up, this time a name, and an invite to message him on Skype. Smiling I pulled up my Skype and sent him a request. A second later Mark Fischbach popped up on my friends list, and a heartbeat later a box filled my screen. He was calling through Skype. Hitting the accept button Mark's face filled my screen. A pair of headphones were placed on his head, but his eyes were locked on something to his right. I stared at him in complete awe. His lips were parted slightly, his eyes just as dark as they were in every video. Suddenly his attention turned to me and a smile caressed his face. 

"Hello." Mark stated looking straight through my soul. 

~~~~~~

Three weeks later I found myself in the passenger seat of a regular old car. I kept finding myself glancing around and continuing to be shocked at how just plain out average everything was. Footprints on the liners, a cheap air freshener hanging from the mirror, stray white hairs all over the back seat from Chica. I couldn't stop twisting my hands in my lap either, I continued to wring them as we pulled out of the airport parking lot. Mark's eyes were locked on the road and some soft pop song was coming through the speakers.

"Nervous?" He glanced over and I caught my breath.

"Terrified." I peeked at him before turning to stare determinedly out the window.

"Don't be. I'm just a normal person. Just like---"

"Me. I know... but still you're Markiplier! You help so many people but, I'm trying to just see you. I mean I look at you and you're just some guy with brown hair and eyes and glasses. Just some silly dude who would get along with the regular idiots I hang out with. In all the right ways." I smiled shyly and continued staring out the window. Traffic and roads passed by, houses that could easily absorb the one I lived in passed.

"So what are we supposed to do anyways?" I asked softly turning my full attention to him.

"What do you wanna do?" Before I could respond my stomach rumbled loudly. He looked at me quizzically.

"Plane food sucks." I shrugged.

"Well there's a good place that does Chinese, there's Cracker Barrel, and this reallllllllly good pizza joint that Wade and I found when he came out to visit last time."

"Pizza. Without a doubt!"

"Sure, what do you like? And please, please don't say..."

"Pineapple."

"You're one of... them!" I raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Them?" I questioned. Mark smiled and glanced at me from the corner of his eyes.

"Pineapple does not, go on pizza!" He continued to grin.

"I disagree. Full hearted. You have to try it!"

"I have before. But, if you're willing to pass on the pizza for now. I can promise to do a pizza tasting video!" I grinned.

"Then let's go grab something else to eat in the mean time." He chuckled.

"Sure."


	9. NSFW - The Night Before (Brian 'Q' Quin)

"I know that, but I'll still miss you!" I protested puckering my bottom lip out and folding my arms stubbornly over my boobs. The right side of our room was messy, clothes were piled on the bed, half spilling out of a suitcase. Q was just finishing up with his packing, and of course leaving a mess in his wake. From the other side of the room he was wandering around in his bedtime clothes, his hair was still wet from a shower. 

"I'll miss you too, but Joe's already told me to be on time or he'll come hide you." Q chuckled and tossed up a rolled pair of socks at his suitcase. 

I scowled and shuffled over to his suitcase. His eyes skimmed over my pale purple nightgown. He had picked it out shortly after we first started dating, he loved when I wore cute things. Anything pretty, or girly. Ignoring him and his comment I began folding his clothes and sliding them into the case, filling it up so he still had room inside of it. 

"So is Joe going to come hide you, or...?" He trailed off wrapping his arms around me from behind. Along the left side of my neck he trailed kisses up to my ear. I shivered as his breath tickled my skin. Squirming around I spun in his arms and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Or you can love me and call me every day. And tell me how much you miss me at night." I snuggled up against him, pressing my body against his. 

"Yeah, but you know I love you already." Q mumbled, breathing down on me. I pushed against him again. 

"Prove it." I breathed out, my minty breath washing up against his face. 

He groaned and reach down, grabbing my thighs and hoisting me up. I snugly wrapped my legs around his hips, and my arms around his neck. He pressed his lips against my collar bone and kissed his way up my neck, and along my jaw before crushing his mouth against mine. I kissed him back as hard as I could, tangling my fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck. Roughly he flopped us down on my side of the bed, pushing me down into the soft mattress with his weight. I moaned against his mouth, tightening my legs around his hips. 

"How baby?" Q breathed into my ear, his teeth nipping at my ear lobe.

"Love me... just love me..." I cooed back, pulling him closer to my core. 

He propped himself up on his elbows and looked down at me. His almond colored eyes peered down at me twinkling, wet strands of hair framed his face and the curl of his lips turned his mustache into a smile as well. I smiled up at him, letting my legs drop to his sides. Carefully I tugged on the hem of his gray t-shirt pulling it up over his belly and over his head. He adjusted so I could slide it off of his arms and pitch it to the right of the bed. My fingers trailed through the splash of hair in the middle of his chest, and across to the couple of tattoos that were done on his arms. 

"Why are you so beautiful?" He murmured. 

"Because you're a blind doofus." Q chuckled and dipped his head down to press a kiss onto my lips. 

He squirmed closer causing the material of my nightgown to ride up my thighs, flashing my lacy polka dot panties. His hands ran up my sides, easily fitting my waist into his hands. They traveled up until his fingers were at the top of my gown. Easily he slid the straps down my arms and tugged the material down until my boobs popped out. His eyes were focused on mine but I felt my cheeks turning red. He grinned even more as his hands rose to cup both of my breasts, pinching my nipples between his thumbs and forefingers. A small squeak slipped out of my throat, my panties dampening. 

His hands massaged my breasts, kneading them until I started uttering soft whimpers. He then bowed his head and trapped my left nipple between his teeth. I moaned out, clutching the bed sheet in one hand, and the back of his head with the other. His tongue twisted around the bud, teasing it before he nipped it between his teeth. My back arched involuntarily, grinding my crotch against him. His lips broke away from my skin, his forehead resting against my sternum. A raspy groan emitted from him causing a smile to decorate my face. 

"Take them off Brian..." I whispered nudging him in the side with my knee. 

Between my legs Brian shifted to his knees and slid down his boxers, his half hard cock swinging freely. I blushed and smiled warmly at him as he kicked off his shorts and lowered himself until he was pressed against me again. Agonizingly slowly he pulled my panties to the side and rubbed himself against my slickened entrance. I could feel him growing harder with ever stroke against me. I moaned and grinded against him restlessly. 

"Do you want that so soon babe?" He asked softly. I nodded and attempted to push against him. He chuckled softly, his cheeks tinged red, and pushed into my vagina, stretching my walls around him. My eyes fluttered shut, my hands wrapping around his wrists tightly. I pushed down against him, sinking his now throbbing cock deeper into me. 

As usual he was still for about sixty seconds, letting me adjust to the full feeling in my lower abdomen before he slid his arms under me. His hands palmed the top of my shoulders, my back resting on his arms so he had mouth access to my chest, but so he could---

I groaned out and he pulled down on my shoulders and thrusted up into me. My fingers knotted in the sheet beneath me while Q pounded inside of my core. A thin sheet of sweat broke out across my body as my insides warmed at his touch. Q's mouth found my nipple again, his warm mouth suckling gently on it before he leaned back and blew a warm breath against it. His arms strained under me, his own coating of sweat forming as he sank into me over and over. His lips shifted up, locating my mouth again. I groaned against his mouth giving him an opening to slip his tongue into my mouth. He quickly twisted it around mine, battling for domination. 

Q shifted, dragging me with him until he was sitting on the edge of the bed, with me on his lap. I smiled and placed my hands on his shoulders to use for stability. With that I began bouncing on his cock, my breasts jiggling in front of his face. Q clung to me, his arms bringing me down harder and harder until I was screaming out his name, a sloppy mess on top of him. He buried his face against my neck, his whiskers scratching my skin deliciously. 

"Sierra...." He moaned out clinging to me, I felt my skin heat up worse as his voice echoed in my ear. He trembled stilling me as his seed burst out, filling me up until it ran down our thighs. I squirmed, my high draining painfully. Sliding his hand down between us Q began massaging my sweet spot. His fingers working wonders on my clit while he thrusted his best into me. I groaned as my high spiked back up. 

"Ahh! Briaaaaan!!" I cried out tucking my head against him. My body clenched around his, tightening around him in blissful convulsions. 

"Maybe I should stay after all..." He murmured as we both slid back into reality. Sheepishly I climbed off of his lap and shuffled into the bathroom to clean myself off. 

"You can't... even if we want you too. Joe might not hide me, but he'll for sure kidnap you. And we all know that Murr and Sal wouldn't hesitate to help him." I sighed. 

Q walked into the bathroom, his boxers back on. His hair was much more devilish and had dried in a 'just had sex' fashion. His eyes were warm like a sunny summer night. His lips turned up in a smile, not that it held any happiness. 

"I'll be back soon baby, and then we'll spend a night out doing whatever you want to do..." 

"Q?"

"Yes sweety?" 

"I love you so much." I spoke softly. He grinned at me. 

"I love you too."


	10. Butterfly Kisses (Cryaotic)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is purely my representation of Cryaotic, I have no clue what he really looks like or anything, this is only my own imagination on the topic!

Deep breath. I forced myself to inhale deeply and blow it out slowly. The sky was a baby blue, and thick white clouds that reminded me of The Simpsons filled the open space. It was Saturday morning so a steady stream of people continued to walk past me and toward the ticket booth of the Metro Zoo. Kids varying in age from infant to toddler, and into their tweens. Little girls with pigtails, and flower printed sundresses, and little boys with multicolored shorts and t-shirts. I watched another mother or older sister lead twin boys through the gates, either of them holding onto one of her hands. Nervously I fidgeted with the hot pink earbuds, listening to my crush sing 'How To Save A Life' badly out of tune.

I'd been friends with him for almost three and a half years, but this was the first time I was ever going to see him in person. Glancing up toward the sky I ran my hands over my arms, trying to dispel my nerves. Not only did I feel like I was going insane from finally getting to meet him, I was jittery from my unusual attire, and of course, standing outside the front gates of a Zoo by myself. The song shifted into another poorly sang version of Mad World. I knew he wasn't the greatest singer, but there was still something pleasant about it. Closing my eyes I tugged the hem of my sundress down slightly. The straps tugged on my shoulders, but it was okay. My roommate Adrian had bought the dress for me, just for meeting Ryan. It was a dark navy blue material with some sort of pink and white flowers splattered all across it. My eyes snapped open and I jumped as my phone began vibrating from inside my over shoulder bookbag. Tearing my earbuds out I dug out my phone and hit the talk button.

"Heeeeyyy." A deep voice crackled from the other end of the call.

"Hey." I replied back, mentally slapping myself. Hey. What an amazing greeting on my part.

"I just pulled in. I would have been here sooner, but I had to wrestle my socks out from under the cats ass. Again." He grumbled. I twisted from my position, searching the sea of faces for the one I would recognize.

"So you are here. For sure?" I asked softly. He chuckled and the line went dead.

"Behind you." He growled. I jumped, the hair on my arms standing up all over my body.

"Jesus Christ Ryan!" Pressing a hand against my chest I glared at him.

He was all toothy grin and bright, sea colored eyes. A pair of silver framed glasses rested on his nose and his dark brown hair was swept every which way, a sure sign of the drive here. A pair of black shorts hung down to his knees and a black t-shirt with "Something inspirational that gives hope that things will get better" in a bold white print across the chest. A worn out, ratty pair of green converse were laced up tightly with little black laces. Even though there was plenty of space between us, I could still tell that he was several inches taller than me.

"Am I really that bad looking? Did I forget to brush my teeth?" Ryan held a hand in front of his face and huffed a breath into it. "Nope, that's minty fresh!" A playful glint crossed through his eyes.

"Let's head in already." Posing in a mock marching position, Ryan began doing some strange walk, a cross between a skip and makeshift swing dancing. He paused a few feet ahead, his head turned to face me. Shyly I followed behind him as he continued his dance past other newcomers. Each and everyone of them paused midstep to watch him go boogieing past. At the main entrance we added ourselves to the back of the line.

"That dress looks nice on you." I cast a sideways glance at Ryan.

"Uhh... thanks." I murmured. My cheeks felt hot and I swear there were people staring at him and me. Whispering about the dancing man. We stood in awkward silence as the line inched forward, person after person shuffling through the gates and into the zoo.

"Two adults, that'll be 28.50." The man who spoke up to us looked bored. An earbud was dangling from one of his ears, and his eyes were slightly unfocused on everything they settled on. Without really looking at us he held out a hand palm up and waited. Before I could fish my wallet out of my purse Ryan was placing a couple of folded bills and a couple of quarters in the man's hand. He flipped through the money before passing over two neon green bracelets for us to put on. "Enjoy your stay at the Metro Zoo." He gave us a lazy smile full of metal before turning his attention to something just out of our sight.

"C'mon." Ryan took my hand and led me through the main gates and into the first intersection. A big plastic covered sign with pockets stood in the middle. Every pocket was stuffed full of folded paper maps. I reach out and snagged one as we neared it. I unfolded the map and scanned it while Ryan slid his bracelet on and tightened it to size, then he busied himself with fastening mine on as well.

"Where do you wanna head first?" I asked. The map was grouped off in several pieces, each surrounded by a different color and labeled with thick black ink. The closest one was the African Savannah, but there was also Primate, Cat and Aquatics, a Butterfly Cage, a Wilderness Trek and an Australian Adventure.

"Up to you." I glanced over to see him staring off toward a large enclosure already. It seemed to be in the direction of the African Savannah, but I wasn't certain. Sometimes I wasn't the best with maps, but I wasn't alone in that forte. I'd see Ryan play video games and the boy couldn't read a map to save his life. He always just kinda wandered around until he managed to get where he wanted to be. Sometimes it drove me insane.

Silently I led the way toward the enclosure. As we neared it I could make out tall wispy brown grassy patches and large brownish grey blobs. Further inspection revealed them to be elephants. Around the pen several podiums stood with some sort of laminated page about the elephants. I edged closer to one and began reading the facts.

"Hey Ry, did you know this is the largest land animal? And they can be distinguished by their large ears? Not all elephants have huge ears!" I looked over at him to see him leaning against the metal railing. His eyes locked on one of the creatures. I followed his line of sight and found myself watching as two of them stood in muddy water that came up to the middle of their knees. One at a time they dipped their trunks into the water before raising them above their head and showering themselves with snotty, mud water. Involuntarily my nose wrinkled at the thought of washing myself in water snorted up my nose. Gross.

"That looks like fun." My eyes swivelled back to Ryan.

"What?"

"I think bathing with an elephant would be fun. Of course I'd need a hose to even be on the same water level as them. Somehow I don't think my mouthful would be sufficient." He grinned sideways at me but I couldn't return the expression.

"Dude... gross." Shocked he stared open mouthed at me.

"I was joking, I mean... you know that right?" Hiis brows furrowed.

"Yeah I guess... sorry." We wandered in silence for a while, stopping at several exhibits, but not saying much. A group of cheeta's that were racing around their pens, a group of buffalos huddling around their man made watering hole, and even a pen filled with giraffes that were busy standing on their hind legs to reach extra high leaves on trees. There were several spots where small metal machines would spit out carrots for a dollar each and you could feed them yourself. I eyed one nervously before shaking my head and turning away from it.

"Why are you acting like this?" Ryan asked suddenly, his voice quiet. Both of his arms were folded tightly across his chest and his eyebrows were furrowed in the middle.

"L-like what?" I stammered, slightly taken aback by his seemingly sudden attitude change. His eyes scanned my face.

"Like you're afraid to be around me. Normally talking about an elephant bath would have had you in a giggle fit. The first thing you do to me when we talk online, everyday might I add, is to give me a hug. You haven't so much as shaken my hand. And you just had a staring contest for at least a minute straight with a carrot dispenser." He nodded toward the machine where a little girl was currently fishing out her newly bought carrot. My cheeks flushed a deep crimson. He was right, I was kind of acting like an ass.

"I guess... I was... No, am... I am afraid that you're not who you are online." I stared down at the ground desperately wishing that my bestie Adrian was here for a buffer.

"Simone, I'm the same person I am in every voice chat, video call and chat box. I still have a cat who insists on stabbing my balls with her nails. I still sit in a room and record bullshit videos all day, and I still can't get enough of caramel popcorn." He frowned and shook his head, "You know who I am. We've been friends for three years." Ryan took a step closer and smiled sheepishly. "And I will still never judge you for anything you do, wear or say. Unless we get into Hentai, but that's for an entire other reason." He chuckled and let his shoulders slum slowly.

"I know... I'm sorry. But what if other people think we're weird?" I asked glancing around at all the people surrounding us and milling around. Ryan's response was to roll his eyes and begin doing a little makeshift boogie toward the carrot machine. A couple people glanced over at him, and a nearby toddler began squatting in rhythm to Ryan's dance.

"See? He'll dance with me!" He nodded at the kid and continued dancing beside the machine. Slowly the attention shifted from Ryan to me, waiting for me to join him. Fear kneaded at my heart, making my chest ache in all the wrong ways. Stiffly I mimicked his movements the best I could until I was close enough to hide behind him. I clung to his shoulders from behind, and relished in the cool metal bar pressed against my upper back. He chuckled and stepped out of my reach, turning to face me.

"Now was that so hard?" He questioned smirking.

"I guess not..." I mumbled glancing around. The parents of the boy were smiling, but otherwise nobody was paying any mind to us. We were already gone from their minds.

"Good, now feed the giraffe." He grinned and pulled a carrot out from behind his back.

"Wait, what? When did you..." I trailed off staring in awe at the orange stick in his hand.

"Magic yo." He grinned crookedly before stepping close and forcing the veggie into my hands. Resting his hands on my shoulders he gently turned me to face the metal fencing. One of the giraffes was already stepping closer, leaning it's head toward me. Nervously I held out the carrot, my hand shaking slightly. Gently Ryan placed his hand over mine, helping me to steady myself.

"Do you believe in love after lifeee." Ryan hummed in my ear. I resisted shivering instead inspecting the giraffe as it drew near. A slender purplish black tongue poked out between it lips extending toward the veggie. I watched as it curled around the carrot and pulled it gently out of my hand, gnawing on it. "Talk about making ya feel short." He mumbled behind me. I let go of the carrot and glanced back at Ryan.

"No, you're just short in general." I smiled turning to face him. He rolled his eyes.

"So where all were you wanting to see for sure?" He asked leading me by the arm away from the enclosure.

"PANDAS, AND RED PANDAS, AND JELLYFISH!" I shouted, admittedly much louder than I had wanted to. Off to my right a young girl started chiming panda, over and over to her mom.

We spent the next hour wandering around the zoo, pausing longer to see the panda bears rolling around while holding their feet. By the time we arrived at their pen a zookeeper was inside feeding them bamboo stalks for their lunch. I could help but pull my phone out just to snap every picture possible of them, not to mention a couple that I managed to sneak of Ryan staring through one of those scopes that you put a quarter in to see around. We hovered too long, just sitting by the thick plastic watching a couple of panda babies busy themselves with nibbling on bamboo pieces. Tiny little leaves poking out of its mouth. At least I was focused on them until my stomach grumbled loudly.

"Wooow." Ryan draped an arm over my shoulders and patted my tummy lightly. "Sounds like someone is hungry." I blushed deeply.

"Can we go get some pizza before the Aquarium and the Butterfly Cage?" I asked.

"Pizza sounds good, but only if we can get one of those paper bowls with ice cream. And maybe extra toppings." He smiled. Together we wound back up one of the paths, following a slow tide of others aiming for the restaurant areas. The outsides were painted in bright and really obvious colors, and several clusters of black tables and chairs filled the space around the restaurant. Families and couples filled every space, munching on home packed lunches or sandwiches and pizza slices bought from inside.

"Whoa..." We slowed our pace as it became even more obvious that the seats were all seemingly taken. I grabbed Ryan's hand and before he could protest I pulled him away from the main food bodies and toward one of the big souvenir shops.

"Let's look around while everyone else swarms the food." I grinned and tugged him by the hand through the front doors.

Inside there were rows of metal racks filled with multicolored shirts and hoodies. Each one with a different animal print from the zoo. Bright green lizards, and white and orange tiger heads, and panda bear heads on all of the shirts. There were racks filled with small glass statues and mugs with animal prints on them. I skimmed through the racks before shuffling toward the piles of fluffy stuffed animals, more precisely and plush red panda with big brown eyes. I could hear Ryan following me closely behind.

"It's a so cute!" He fangirled. Snatching it off of the shelf before I could even reach for it he examined it closely. "Look it even has your cute little smile." He gave me a side look and winked. Blushing, I wrung the strap of my purse and stared at the floor.

"Want it?" He asked softly.

"Of course, but I can't really afford that crap." I pointed at the price tag dangling from its ear. There was a little number twenty-five above the barcode.

"I'll buy it for you if you... give me a kiss for it." Again he winked at me. "I'm kidding Simone, just kidding." His expression relaxed into a gentle smile.

"No, and no. I can't kiss you silly." I denied, feeling my cheeks burn even redder. I couldn't kiss him, no matter how much I wanted to. Stupid, adorably, sweet boy. I'd never kissed a guy before, I wasn't even sure how you instigated something like that. At least, not without making it weird.

"It's fine, I told you I was just kidding. But if you do want it, I can get it for you. I brought a little extra just in case." He beamed. Shyly I nodded. He led the way to the cash register before paying for the red panda plushie and handing to me. I clutched it against my chest and buried my face against the soft fur. Sidestepping toward Ryan I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, squishing the plushie between us.

"Thank you so much Ryan!" I squeaked, clinging to him tightly. He just chuckled in my ear, and fastened his arms around my middle. Warmth radiated out of him, melting everything I was trying to be.

"You're very much welcome." He cooed softly, sending shivers down my spine. Slowly I pulled away, left with the remnants of a sloopy smile.

"Suddenly you look drunk." He chuckled prodding one of my cheeks softly.

"Do not..." I protested puffing out my cheeks and looking away.

"Simone. Simone. Simone." I peeked up at him.

"What?"

"Piiiizzzaaa." He hissed.

"Lead the way pizza boy." I gestured toward the day. Ryan grabbed my hand and pulled me back toward the nearest building. There was a small bear wearing an apron and covered in cheese. It seemed to be the emptiest of all of them. There was even a table in the back corner.

"Oh! I'll go save that table. Do you wanna go get us some pizza and an ice cream bowl?" Ryan nodded.

"Sure thing." I shoved my wallet into his hand.

"Go ahead and use my money to pay for my food." Stepping to the side I grabbed a handful of napkins before wandering over to the empty corner table. A light breeze was blowing in from a cracked window. Just outside was a playground made up of swings, and rocking dinosaur toys, and a handful and excited children running around. I couldn't help but focus on a group of kids that appeared to be playing monster under the bridge. Little hands poking up around the sides of the equipment and pawing toward other kids. I smiled slowly, watching as a little girl in a dress jumped up and tapped someone on the bridge. They flailed before jumping off the bridge and into the rocks below.

"One piece of super pepperoni and mushroom pizza, a bottle of sprite and a large ice cream bowl complete with chocolate ice cream, cashews, and chocolate syrup." Ryan slid in the seat across from me, sliding a paper plate with our pizza slices on it in the middle of the table. He placed the bowl down beside it and then placed two bottles of pop on the table. A pepsi for him and a bottle of sprite for me.

"Oh my goodness that looks amazing!" I snapped down a huge bite out of the pizza followed by a long drink of sprite.

We ate in silence for a good twenty minutes, nursing soda, and nibbling on small spoons of ice cream. He was one of the few people that I apparently didn't mind sharing a dish with, him and Adrian were pretty much the only ones ever. At some point he passed me back my wallet and we idly discussed how much longer we were going to hang out. But it was cut short as Adrian messaged me to let me know she was one her way back out to get me. She'd get here in about thirty minutes. I frowned and pushed my phone toward Ryan so he could read the messages himself. His eyes skimmed the messages before lighting up.

"Huh thirty minutes huh? Not bad, not bad, neither was your music choice while waiting. Some weirdo named Cry badly singing huh?" He grinned, dimples indenting his cheeks. He cleared his throat before slowly pressing a hand against his sternum.

"Every night in my dreams, I see you, I feeeeeeeeel you! That is how I know you go on. Far across the distance and spaces between us, you have come to show you go on. NEAARRR. FAAAR. WHEREVER YOU ARE, I believe that the heart does go on. Once more, you open the door. And you're here in my heart ad my heart will go on and oooooooon. Ehh? Ehhh? Ahhhh?" Grinning he cleared his throat again and stood slowly out of his seat, drawing even more attention our way. "Love can touch us one time and last for a lifetime. And never let go til we're gone. Love was when I loved you, one true time I hold to. In my life we'll always go on. Neeearr, Farrr, wherever you are. I believe that the heart does go onnnnnn. ONNNNNNNNCEE MOOOOOOORE YOOOOU OPEN THE DOOR, AND YOU'RE HERE IN MY HEART AND MY HEART WILL GO ON AND OOOONNNN. Mmmmmmmm. YOU'RE HERE THERES NOTHING I FEAR!!! AND I KNOW THAT MY HEART WILL GOOOOOOOOO OOOOOONNNN. WE'LLLLLLLLLLL STAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. FOREEEEEEEEVER THIS WAAAAY. YOU ARE SAFE IN MY HEART AND MY HEART WILL GO ON AND OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNN." I watched in mild embarassment as he did a makeshift bow and reach his hand out for mine.

"Shall we take our leave?" He asked. I nodded and grabbed my stuff, and trash, before following him toward the front door. Heads turned to watch as we left, some in amusement, others blatant horror. He ignored everyone of them and choose to lead me through the zoo.

"Where are we going?" I asked curiously as he pulled me along by the hand, headed somewhere.

"The butterfly cage of course! We have to see it before you sister gets here to get you!"

So, the cage turned out to be a really big building with some really fine netting over it. Sunlight streamed through from the top, but it couldn't beat the breeze that snaked through the room. It was like an indoor garden. There was mini trees, and vines and multicolored flowers everywhere. But that wasn't what had everyone in awe. I finally understood why Ryan had wanted to see the room so badly. The butterflies ranged in size from a dime up to the size of my palm, and their colors were just as varied as the flowers that surrounded them. Ryan led me further inward, sneaking between rows of plants until we were lost in the indoor nature.

"Holy shiitteee." I murmured turning to take it all in. I did a full circle before turning to face him again, but he was just staring at me. His head cocked to the side and a grin toyed at his lips.

"You're just as pretty as every little winged demon in this place." He shuffled closer, wiggling my new stuffie in front of my face.

"And you're as blind as always. That's what these are for." I stepped closer, toe to toe with him and reach up to wiggle his glasses slightly. The smile continued to curl.

"These let me see in high definition."

Quickly I rose to my tiptoes and smushed my mouth against his. I could feel his smile against my lips, and it made my stomach to flips. He leaned in to keep me there, his free arm wrapping around my back. My eyelids fluttered shut, only to flash open as my phone began buzzing loudly.

"Adrian's calling you." He murmured against my mouth, bathing me in his pizza breath.

"How do you know it's her?" I whispered, not doubting him in the least bit.

"It is. But we'll have all the time in the world someday." He quickly pecked my lips against before taking me by the hand and leading me back out of the butterfly cage, and toward the parking lot. And not for a moment did he let go of my hand.


	11. Album Winner (Natewantstobattle)

"I told you to pack last week!" My best friend Adrian called out from my one person bathroom.

As much as I wanted argue I knew she was right, no less than three times the previous week she'd told me I needed to start packing. I didn't listen. Instead I'd waited until this morning and called her at four in the morning to help me pack up before I had to be on my six A.M. flight. Like the good friend she was she'd managed to show up twenty minutes later, her short hair ruffled from bed. Grumbling profanities she shuffled back into my tiny bedrooms, her arms loaded with my toiletries.

"You still love me right?" I asked, glancing up at her as I folded another pair of jeans and stuffed them into my purple wheelie suitcase. Despite the glare she shot my way a smile was toying at her lips.

"Sure. I don't have to worry about missing a flight to meet Nathan Sharp." She replied, smirking.

"Not cool Addy!" I pouted, folding my arms.

Rolling her eyes she began slipping the toiletries into my suitcase, keeping them all clumped together. She was far better at packing then I was. Quickly I hurried to my bookshelf and pulled down my newer sketch book and pouch of pencils. Only one or two of them still had erasers but I couldn't complain, I had a really nice big peach colored one.

"So what's happening exactly? You're crashing with him for the weekend because you bought his CD?" Adrian questioned snatching my sketchbook and pencils as I approached.

"Yes, one lucky winner would be given a CD with special instructions. They'd get to spend a weekend in LA with him and record a song or just hang out. I think we'll just hang out, I can't really sing." Wrinkling my nose I smiled shyly at her. She was just staring back at me.

"Ten dollars you accidentally see him naked or in a towel." She smirked, organizing the suitcase before eyeing it. Beside her I flushed darkly, trying to ignore the cartoonish doodles of Nate in a towel that popped into my head.

"Do you have everything?" She demanded, eyeing the contents carefully.

"Ummm... yessssssss- no. My laptops still on the desk." Idly I turned and walked toward my little work nook, unplugging the cords and winding them up carefully. "Hey Addy, can you drive me to the airport please?" I asked, lifting the laptop into my arms and turning to face her. Inwardly I cringed from the annoyed look on her face. "Pretty please? I'll buy you doughnuts and NOS before I leave." I offered watching the contemplation flicker across her face.

"Fine." She huffed finally, holding her hands out for the laptop and cords. Carefully she nestled them between my clothes to avoid damage during travel.

"What if he's mean?" I asked suddenly, worry spiking. "Or thinks I'm ugly! What if he's really creepy in person?!" I questioned out loud, turning to face Adrian. She was just staring at me blankly.

"Get dressed dummy, I need caffeine and sugar." Turning away she proceeded to zip up my suitcase, only having to lay on it once to get the zipper shut.

Heeding her advice I hurried into the bathroom where my clothes were laid out on the counter. Quickly I changed into a pair of light blue skinny jeans which were tucked into my black combat boots. Nervously I pulled on a long sleeved v-neck shirt with cuts from the shoulders down to my wrists. It accented my boobies more than I cared for, but it helped to make my belly slimmer looking so I could deal with it. Tilting my head to the side I quickly tried to pull my hair back into a cute ponytail but instead it just went up uneven.

"Move your hands." From the doorway of the bathroom Adrian came in and swatted at my hand until I dropped them to my sides. With practiced hands she fastened my hair back into a french braid that fell along the middle of my back before kissing my head gently. "Let's go." She grumbled, leaving me stumbling behind her into the bedroom.

Smiling to myself I watched as she hoisted the suitcase off the bed, dragging it after her into the hallway. For ten years I'd know her, but she still looked the most like home, like my sister, when she was shuffling around with a pair of checkered pj pants, her ratty black converse and a baggy Markiplier charity shirt on. I snatched my house keys, wallet and phone from their seat on the nightstand before following her into the hallway, locking and closing my door behind me. This early in the morning the hallway was still rather dark and silent, most of the other tenants were either at work or sleeping. Silently I followed Adrian to the elevator at the end of the hallway, she was standing by the doors, watching the numbers blink orange as it passed them.

"Addy, hey Addy." I whispered as the doors dinged open and we stepped inside. Silently she palmed the first floor button and leaned against the wall. "Adddddy." I whispered again, drawing a sideways glance from her.

"What?" She asked, eyes boring into mine.

"I love you." I smiled. She rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the elevator doors. "Adddddddy."

"Love you too." She grumbled back, before muttering 'dumb ass' under her breath.

For the most part the trip to the airport was uneventful. The radio played in the background, belting another musician's songs from YouTube through the speakers. We paused briefly at Get Go and as agreed I bought her a pack of mini cinnamon doughnuts and a cold can of NOS. She didn't hesitate to tear them open and start eating. I didn't mind, instead I sat in the passenger seat, nibbling on a rather large chocolate chip muffin and sipping from an icy bottle of pepsi. Before I knew it Adrian had pulled up out front of the airport and unlocked the car doors.

"Now get the fuck out of my car." She grumbled, making a shooing motion with one hand. Ignoring her I leaned across the compartment and hugged her around the shoulders tightly. I felt one of her hands pat my head lightly, the other one pinned to her side.

"Will you miss me?" I requested as I released her from the hug.

"Duh. Now go catch your flight." She made another waving motion. I pouted slightly and folded my arms.

"You could act like you're gonna miss me more." I stated, staring at her.

"It's five forty-three. Your plane departs at six and you've never been in there before. Go before you're late." She said rolling her eyes.

"What?" Stunned I glanced at the clock and felt myself panic. SHE WAS RIGHT! I shoved open the door and hopped out, slamming the door behind me. Quickly I pulled open the back door and fished my bag out waving at Adrian. "Bye Addy! I'll miss you!" I called out slamming the other door shut and dragging my bag toward the airport. She honked twice before pulling away slowly.

Now for the hardest part. Navigation. Moving quickly I headed inside the airport, looking around for the first map I could find. Luckily for me it was early enough that I didn't have to worry about being caught up in walking traffic, instead most of the halls were already cleared. Somehow I ended up walking through the wrong door twice, before finally finding where I was supposed to board the plane at. By then I only had two minutes left. The stewardess directed my through the mostly empty plane to an empty seat.

"Please relax Miss." The stewardess instructed before walking away.

I watched her disappear from my line of sight before I leaned back in my seat. Carefully I dug through my pants pocket and fished out my phone and headphones, I had well over three hundred songs to last my flight. Plugging them in I inserted the tiny buds and leaned back in the seat, prepared to fall asleep listening to Nate. If I was going to meet him I may as well get the slight addiction to his songs out of the way. The last thing I wanted to do was harass him with my listening to... well, him. Within minutes I was out cold.

 

 

The plane landed just after ten in the morning, the wheels on the runway jarring me awake. Groggily I blinked my eyes, trying to get rid of the crusties. Slowly I pulled out the earbuds and listening, waiting to be instructed to get up. When we were aloud to get off the plane I followed the small tide of people shuffling off the plane and into the terminal. Uncertainly I even followed the mass of them to the baggage reclaim, hoping I'd retrieve my suitcase quickly and be able to leave just as fast. In my right pocket my phone had began to vibrate as I stepped into the baggage claim room. Quickly I pulled out my phone and hit answer, holding it against my ear while my eyes scanned the conveyor belt.

"Hello?" I called into the mic, almost fainting as Nate's voice spoke in my ear.

"Hey! Simone right?" He questioned, sounding rather chipper. I nodded my head, before realizing instantly that he couldn't see me.

"Yeah." I replied, smiling widely.

"I just wanted to make sure you caught your flight and hadn't bailed last minute on me." He called into the receiver. Shock coursed through me, who would ever just bail on him?!

"Nah. We just landed, I'm waiting for my bag right now." I spoke back, spotting my purple blob among the army of blacks and greys. Squeezing between a couple of people I snatched the bag from the conveyor belt and pulled it onto the floor. "Got it." I chimed happily, lifting the handle so I could roll it along behind me.

"Cool! I'm waiting in the front lobby." He paused for a minute, almost as if contemplating if he wanted to say something else, "Did you have breakfast yet?" Nate asked.

"I had a chocolate chip muffin at five thirty." I mumbled, wishing I had another one. On the other end of the phone he scoffed.

"That's not breakfast!" He laughed lightly, the sound sending butterflies swarming through my stomach. "Are you cool with stopping somewhere to eat before heading to the studio?" He asked. Silently I pondered the question as I navigated the airport, watching the signs leading me toward the exit.

"Umm that's fine. I'll have to stop by an ATM to get some money first, if that's okay?" I muttered stepping through another set of double doors. The other side was nothing but polished blue tiles and high glass windows. On the opposite side of the room were four sets of doors, a constant flow of people pushing through them in one direction or another. And off the left side was a man pacing back and forth, one hand holding a phone against his ear, the other rubbing the back of his head.

"Sure, sure! So..." His voice trailed off as the man stopped pacing, I smiled widely.

"I think I see you." I stated into the phone.

"Really?" The man lifted his head and confirmed my suspicions. Navigation the traffic I crossed the room to where Nate was standing, watching me approach.

"Hey!" He called out as soon as I was close enough, the faint smile on his mouth was enough to clearly define his dimples. Suddenly shy I waved at him in greeting, even though he was less than a foot away from me. I hung up my phone, cramming it back into my pocket as he studied me for a minute, his eyebrows furrowed in the middle.

"I thought you'd be taller." He muttered softly, staring down at me.

Despite the comment he was smiling warmly at me, his eyes twinkling playfully. "Let's go get some food in us before recording!" I flinched as he threw an arm out, wrapping it around my shoulders and pulling me toward the door. I stumbled after, stunned at how much body heat was rolling off of him. Outside was amazing, this early in the morning LA was like something out of a future magazine. The sun was shining down brilliantly, glittering off the nearby windows and cars.

"Holy crap... Addy would love this..." I muttered drawing a curious look from Nate.

"Addy?" He questioned.

"Adrian, she's my best friend. She's a bit of a picture-holic." I smiled, craning my neck to look up at him.

"Let's make her jealous." He offered slippin his phone out and wiggling it between his fingers. "A selfie in LA lights!" He grinned at me, making my knees feel gooey.

"Okay." I mumbled, my cheeks turning red.

Moving quickly Nate pulled up his camera, his arm still wrapped around my shoulders. He pulled me closer, even resting his head against mine as he grinned bigger than I thought was possible. Holding the camera at arms length he angled it back down at us before snapping a shot. I could tell my cheeks looked as if they'd been sunburnt twice in two days.

"Annnnnd uploaded to Instagram." He clicked through several tabs in quick succession before turning to face me. "Ready?" I nodded my head shyly, tailing along after him through the parking lot.


	12. Album Winner Pt. 2 (Natewantstobattle)

I had to say I was surprised at how much energy Nate had, especially this early in the morning. I was normally the kind of girl who slept in until it was after noon and if I was awake before that I was grumpy and sluggish the entire day. But his energy was infectious as he sat behind the steering wheel, drumming his fingers against the cover and bobbing his head along to whatever mixed CD he had in the radio.

The drive to breakfast was rather long, the morning work traffic clogging up the roads, but it was still enjoyable. I found myself sneaking glances at Nate, admiring the way the sunlight streamed through the drivers window, adding a glow around his jawline. Every so often a soft pink tongue would poke through his lips, moistening before retreating again, leaving a heated flush on my skin. It wasn't until he started chewing on his bottom lip that I wondered what it would be like; to nibble at his lip and feel his tongue graze across my lips, asking for entrance.

I was jarred out of my thoughts as his hand brushed over my arm, shaking my elbow lightly. Shaking my head to clear out the lingering want, I turned my face toward him and found his lips quirked up in a smile.

"Daydreaming are we?" He teased, winking playfully across the confines of the car.

"Maybe a little?" I admitted shyly, avoiding eye contact.

"About what?" My eyes flicked toward him at the question, my gaze settling on his plush lips again. Nervously I bit down on my bottom lip and forced my eyes to meet his.

"Sausage." The word came out before I had time to process, "and pancakes! Sausage and pancakes." I breathed out, feeling the familiar blush creep up my neck and burn brightly in my cheeks. Nate didn't seem offended, or put off by my odd behavior, rather he seemed amused.

"Well I'm pretty sure Perkins has both." Still smiling he nodded toward the windshield.

Through the clear glass I could see the tan and brick building looming not twenty feet from us. The green striped awnings were sunbleached, but still promised some shade from the glaring sun. Before I could move Nate popped open his door and hopped out, letting it fall shut as he hurried around to my side. I felt my heart flutter lamely as he pulled open my door for me, leaning down to offer his arm.

"Shall we?" He asked, one eyebrow raised teasingly.

"Wait- we didn't stop anywhere for me to get money!" Panic built inside my chest in an instant, even as Nate rolled his dark eyes and pulled me from the car.

"I'm pretty sure I can cover breakfast." He started, throwing his arm over my shoulder as soon as I closed the car door.

Shyly I accepted his gesture, letting him keep his arm around me, leading us both through the front door. I hadn't realized how warm it was outside until the cool air conditioning blasted me in the face, chilling my arms through the slices in the sleeves. Still grinning Nate led me to the front counter, turning his charm toward the waitress behind the counter. She didn't seem nearly as intoxified by him as I was.

"Just the two?" She asked, glancing up at us as she lifted two glossy menus from a pile on her side of the counter. I nodded my head and she smiled. "Please follow me, oh, smoking on non?" She called over her shoulder, scooping two bundles of silverware from a tub sitting on the far end of the counter.

"Non please." Nate responded.

The waitress led us between several other tables, all of which loaded with people. In one corner I spotted an old couple sharing a small booth, the older man smiling warmly across the table at his wife. Compared to the red vinyl seats they looked rather out of place, both of them dressed in pale creams and blues. The checkered blue and green carpet didn't help either, it made everything look out of place. Silently I mused to myself, wondering why so many people adored Perkins. The waitress pulled to a stop at an empty booth, setting both menus and bundles of silverware down before digging a cute notepad from her apron.

"My name is Beth, I'll be with you this morning. What can I get you to drink?" She asked, smiling warmly.

"Iced tea please." I muttered, studying her slender frame and pretty blonde hair. I couldn't help but wonder if Nate thought she was pretty, or at the very least prettier than me. Quickly I sank into one side of the booth, half to get out of her way and half to hide my belly, just in case he hadn't noticed it yet.

"Black coffee." Nate told her before plopping down across from me, the twinkle in his eyes was still there.

"Are you ok?" He asked, raising an eyebrow again. I bobbed my head quickly. "Are you sure?" He questioned, resting his forearms against the table and leaning toward me.

"Just... hungry." I forced a smile, realizing that my need for food probably made me sound fat.

"Me too." He chuckled deely, leaning back against the seat.

Under the table I felt his leg brush against mine. Struggling to ignore it, without having to move because it was actually really nice, I picked up the menu and flipped to the first page. Across from me Nate did the same, but his leg only pressed closer to mine, his calf resting pleasantly against mine. Fighting back the giddiness I studied my menu, scanning the pages for something that looked good for breakfast.

"The back had breakfasts and brunches." Nate spoke idly, studying the menu. His chocolaty eyes skimmed the page before he plopped the booklet on the table, smiling. "I'm getting the Big Country." He said, pointing toward something that looked mashed together. Under the name it rattled of cheeses, bacon, ham, eggs and sausage gravy over tater tots. My mouth watered greedily at the thought of it. Quickly I turned back to my own menu, looking for something just as good. I decided on a build your own breakfast just as Beth returned, setting down my iced tea and Nate's coffee. Carefully she pulled her notepad back out, posing a pen just over the page.

"Have you decided?" She asked, glancing between us.

"The Big Country." Nate answered first. Beth scribbled along the page before turning toward me. 

"And for you miss?"

"Um the build your breakfast... Could I have the smoked bacon, the tots and pancakes?" I asked, avoiding meeting both her and Nate's eyes.

"Sure thing. It'll be out shortly." Smiling again she collected our menus before walking away, only to pause a few tables down to speak with another customer.

"No sausage?" Nate asked, sending my mind whirling.

"Bacon sounded better..." I muttered, tugging at my fingers. Nate hummed softly, somewhere deep in his throat before speaking.

"What's wrong Simone?" His voice was soft, lighter than I had expected it to be.

"Nothing..." I shrugged, staring down at my hands. To my amazement his fingers crept across the table, tightening around mine.

"You were excited not even an hour ago, but you got distant in the car and now you won't even look at me. Was it something I said?" He asked, voice thick with concern and worry.

"No-no! Not at all!" My head snapped up and I pulled my hands away from his, waving away his sentence. "I just... I don't want... " The words tangled in my chest, hitting a block halfway up my throat. Taking a deep breath I tried again, looking down at my hands again. "I don't want you to think I'm weird, or fat..." I added, my voice hardly more than a whisper.

"We're all a little weird... and even if you're a little bigger it just gives more to love." Nate replied, reaching out to envelope my hands in his again. "You don't need to worry about what I think, long as you're not like a crazy murderer or something." He let out a half-hearted chuckle, strangely it did make me feel better.

"Are you sure?" I whispered, peeking up at his face. A sad smile graced his features, widening his ever charming dimples.

"Of course. Now, permission to be nice and have some fun?" He asked, cocking his head to the side. The action reminded me strongly of a puppy that was still learning it's name.

"I--" I guess. Maybe. I'm still scared. They were all things that flashed across my mind in a matter of seconds, but I choose something else. Something Adrian would be proud of. "I think so, yeah." At first I forced a smile, but after a couple of seconds it was real.

"So we're heading to the studio after this?" I asked, pulling my tea close to sip from the plastic straw.

Instantly Nate relaxed again, sliding his coffee closer. Mindlessly he tore open two packets of sugar and emptied them both into his cup, swirling them around with his spoon. His dark eyes locked onto the churning drink for a moment before his attention returned to me.

"We are. Have you thought about a cover you'd like to sing with me?" He asked, sipping gingerly from the steaming mug.

"Me? Sing? I can't sing." I felt my eyes widen as I realized he wanted me to voice words. Musically. Not at home in the shower, but in front of a living human.

"Anyone can sing with a little practice and work. Really depends on the starting point." He retorted. I shook my head, my braid sliding back and forth across my back.

"Bad, we're starting with bad. Horrendous even, there's no hope. Not over a weekend!" Just then Beth came up, a black tray balanced on one of her arms.

Our conversation halted as she used her free hand to set out plates down on the table. Quickly she pulled out a bottle of syrup and placed it near my plate before smiling and hurrying away, only to stop and remove two more dishes from her tray. Silently I popped the cap on the syrup and drizzled it heavily over my pancakes and one of end of bacon.

Across the table Nate had already pulled his plate close, sucked the coffee from his spoon and ladled a bite of his Big Country into his mouth. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from giggling as his mouth popped open in an 'O' shape, steam pouring out. Trying to be kind he closed his teeth to shield half chewed food from my line of sight.

"Hot?" I asked, cutting my pancake and taking a nibble. He grunted and bobbed his head several times, blowing through his mouth. I about blew my pancakes everywhere as a stream of drool pooled at the corner of his lips before running down his chin and dampening the table.

Leaning forward I snatched the napkin my silverware had been wrapped in and dabbed his mouth. I glanced at his eyes and found him already staring at me, pink dusted across his upper cheeks. His jaw slackened slightly and I could smell his breakfast with every breath he took. Slowly I edged back, sinking into my seat as I realized how close I'd put my face to his.

"That smells... good." I smiled shyly, hoping my face wasn't the same color as tomato paste.

"It's hot." He replied after finally swallowing his first bite. I couldn't resist smiling at him. Quickly he scooped up another spoonful, blew on it gently, then held it across the table. Stunned I leaned forward and opened my mouth. He placed the spoon on my tongue, waiting until I had cleaned it off to scoop up a bite for himself. I chewed it, savoring the rich flavors as they spread across my tongue.

"That's really good." I muttered, glaring at my pancakes.

"Haha, you don't have to death stare your plate. We could split both dishes half and half if you wanted." He offered, nudging his plate closer to mine.

"You don't have to do that." I felt my lips curl up at the thought of sharing with him.

Instead of answering me he leaned closer, splitting our breakfast evenly before pushing my plate toward me again. The rest of breakfast passed in no time. We made small talk and if I didn't know better, I'd think he was flirting with me. But I knew better, and I was pretty sure he had a girlfriend. I mean, who would pass up on a lifetime of falling for those chocolate eyes? True to his word when we were both stuffed on tot pie, pancakes, iced tea and coffee he took care of the check.

As we were leaving the building I felt his arm wrap around my shoulder again, causing warmth to bloom inside my chest. Shyly I decided to play along and stepped closer to him, wrapping one of my arms around myself and the other around his torso. It didn't have quite the desired effect. While he didn't seem to mind the gesture at all, I was on the verge of passion out. I'd moved close enough to smell his deodorant and shampoo and even if my arm wasn't pressed against his back I could still feel the warmth rolling off his body.

"Hey Nate...?" I asked, as he once again opened the car door for me.

"Yea Simone?" He glanced at me, stepping back so I could crawl inside. Resting my hand on top of the door I hesitated.

"Do you... ah... never mind. It's nothing." Flashing him a quick smile I dropped into my seat, pulling the door shut. He raised an eyebrow, looking at me through the window for a moment before walking around to his side and climbing in.

"You ever decide on a song to cover?" He asked, sliding his key into the ignition and twisting it on. Fear pooled in my belly in time with the purr of the engine.

"What Ifs by Kane Brown." I replied on instinct.

"Good enough for me." Nate chuckled deeply and flicked on his radio again before pulling out of the parking lot.

I could feel my stomach churning the entire ride to his studio, but the tension seemed to ease as soon as we pulled into the garage. Everything was replaced by the fact I'd get to spend time watching Nate, and being forced to sing with him. Sighing happily I followed him up a set of wooden stairs and into one of three rooms. The building seemed to be a studio for more than just him, at least once in awhile.

When I stepped into his studio the last thing I actually expected to do was sing. I busied myself with the room, taking in the recording equipment, the backdrops, the instruments, plush carpet and lavish couch and chair sitting one half of the room. Uncertainly I took a seat on the edge of the chair, watching as Nate began setting up his equipment and pulled up lyrics, which he displayed on the wall. Silently I wondered if they were for his benefit or mine.

"Are you ready?" He asked finally, tapping one of the mics twice before humming into it softly. Whatever the result was he must have been pleased as he waved me closer. "Come on Simone, you just have to sing. I promise if I play it back and you hate it, we'll scrap it. Deal?" He offered, holding his hand toward me.

"I guess so..." I mumbled standing and resting my palm on top of his.

Easily he navigated me toward one of the mics, quickly adjusting the stand for our height difference. Moving to the other side of me he flipped a few switches before swooping to stand beside me, one of his hands reaching over to squeeze mine gently. I felt my cheeks heat up again, but as usual I didn't have the chance to respond or move. Carefully he set a pair of headphones over my ears, sliding one off so I could hear the music tempo and rhythm, but also still hear myself.

"Here goes- take one." Flashing me a quick wink the music began in my ears...


End file.
